Palenca, a Mexican startup specialized in income verification and credit risk evaluation, closed an investment round for US$4 million led by Experian. The round comes at a time when the Mexican financial ecosystem faces a gap in access to labor data and seeks technological alternatives to sustain its credit origination processes.
What does Palenca do?
Palenca develops data infrastructure for income verification and credit risk assessment. Its technology connects financial institutions with private employment information sources, allowing them to validate employment, stability and income without depending on government platforms.
The company anticipated three years ago that the financial ecosystem would need alternatives to social security data and began building its own network of integrations with employers and private information systems.
The problem it solves
Access to employment data is a critical link in the credit chain. Without accurate information about a person’s income, financial institutions cannot confidently assess their ability to pay, which can lead to both financial exclusion and poorly granted credit.
«The co-founder pointed out: The banks do not know how much the majority of Mexicans earn, and that is why credit continues to reach them. We are going to break that,” declares José Carlos Aguilar, Co-founder & CEO of Palenca.
What’s coming for Palenca
With this new capital, the startup plans to strengthen its infrastructure, expand integrations and develop predictive models with artificial intelligence. Its long-term bet is ambitious: in five years, Aguilar points out, no credit will be originated in Mexico without going through its infrastructure.
Experian’s participation as a lead investor involves one of the main credit bureaus globally, which gives the round strategic weight beyond capital. Palenca was founded more than six years ago by José Carlos Aguilar together with Pierre Delarroqua and Antoine Nguyen.
