# Palenca

**Source:** https://geo.sig.ai/brands/palenca  
**Vertical:** Finance  
**Subcategory:** Accounting Software  
**Tier:** Emerging  
**Website:** palenca.com  
**Last Updated:** 2026-04-14

## Summary

LatAm payroll data API enabling income verification and payroll-linked lending in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil; $2.72M from Experian and YC serving 300M+ workers through Kavak and Lalamove.

## Company Overview

Palenca is a Mexico City-based fintech API company providing payroll data connectivity across Latin America — enabling fintechs, banks, and financial institutions to access employment and income data for workers across IMSS (Mexico's social security system), AFORE pension data, and payroll systems in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and three additional Latin American countries. Founded in 2021 and a Y Combinator graduate backed by Experian with $2.72 million raised, Palenca serves 300+ million workers through clients including Kavak (used car platform) and Lalamove (logistics marketplace).

Palenca's API provides the income verification and employment validation data that financial institutions need for credit decisions and the automated payroll deduction authorization that enables "payroll-linked lending" — where loan repayments are deducted directly from the borrower's payroll before salary arrives, dramatically reducing default rates. For lenders, payroll-linked credit is significantly safer than traditional consumer lending because repayment is automated and takes priority over discretionary spending. Palenca's IMSS data access enables real-time verification of formal employment, income, and benefits for Mexican workers.

In 2025, Palenca competes in the LatAm payroll data and open finance market with Belvo (Open Banking and payroll API for LatAm), Prometeo (LatAm banking API), and Experian's own data products for employment and income verification in Latin America. Experian's investor status is strategically significant — the global credit bureau's investment validates Palenca's data quality and creates a pathway for integration into Experian's LatAm credit risk products. The payroll-linked lending market in Latin America is large and growing: millions of workers in formal employment are underserved by traditional consumer credit but represent low-risk borrowers for payroll-secured loans. The 2025 strategy focuses on geographic expansion to additional LatAm countries, deepening IMSS and AFORE data access for Mexico, and building the collection services (automated repayment from payroll) that make the payroll lending model work at scale.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is Palenca?
Palenca is a Mexico City-based fintech company founded in 2021 that provides a payroll API for consumers to share employment data with financial institutions across Latin America. Often described as 'Plaid but for Payroll,' it enables easy access to employment and income verification data through a single API.

### What products and services does Palenca offer?
Palenca offers a payroll API, employment data verification, automated collections, background checks, and financial services integration. These services enable income verification and consumer data sharing for financial institutions and employers.

### Who are Palenca's target customers?
Palenca serves financial institutions, fintechs, and employers across Latin America. Their customers include unicorns like Kavak and Lalamove, and they serve over 300 million workers in the region.

### When was Palenca founded and by whom?
Palenca was founded in 2021 by Jose Aguilar, Pierre Delarroqua, and Antoine Nguyen. The company participated in Y Combinator's Summer 2021 batch (S21).

### Where is Palenca located and in which countries does it operate?
Palenca is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. The company operates in six Latin American countries: Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Brazil.

### How much funding has Palenca raised?
Palenca has raised $2.72M in total funding, including a $2.6M seed round plus a $1M extension in April 2024. The seed round was led by Experian, with participation from Y Combinator, Gilgamesh Ventures, Foundation Capital, and Agile Angel.

### What is Palenca's key achievement in terms of market reach?
Palenca serves over 300 million workers across Latin America. The company has also secured major customers including unicorns like Kavak and Lalamove.

### What technology approach does Palenca use?
Palenca provides a single API that enables easy access to payroll and employment data. This unified API approach simplifies the process for consumers to share employment information with financial institutions across multiple Latin American countries.

### How does Palenca help financial institutions?
Palenca enables financial institutions to verify employment data, conduct background checks, and access income verification through a single API integration. This facilitates automated collections and streamlines financial services for consumers across Latin America.

### What are Palenca's recent developments?
In April 2024, Palenca raised a seed round of $2.6M plus a $1M extension led by Experian. The company also launched operations in Brazil in 2024, expanding its presence across six Latin American countries.

## Tags

b2b, fintech, api-first, analytics, latin-america, scaleup

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*Data from geo.sig.ai Brand Intelligence Database. Updated 2026-04-14.*