Cifrato, a Colombian accounting automation startup, closed a seed round of more than US$1 million led by Y Combinator. This investment also included the participation of Fen Ventures, Decelera Ventures and Kuiper. The company was the only Latin American company in its Winter 2025 cohort at Y Combinator that continues to operate in the region.
Founded by Juan Piscoa 21-year-old CEO who sold his first startup at 19, and Yerson Cacuaformer Vice President of Technology at Rappi and co-founder of Sumer, identified a problem that persists in thousands of accounting firms: people taking physical invoices and manually transcribing them into ERP systems, a process that can take up to seven business days and that Cifrato reduces to three minutes.
Encryption: AI that learns from each invoice
The platform connects directly with tax entities in each country in Latin America to import electronic invoices automatically, parameterize them with artificial intelligence and send them to the client’s ERP or POS without manual intervention. According to the company, 90% of invoices are formed automatically with an efficiency of 98.7%, saving more than 150 hours per month in digitization.
Its differential with other startups is in the verticalization towards accounting firms as the main client and in a network effect that makes the platform more intelligent with each new user. “The system learns how a specific supplier bills a restaurant of a certain size. The more people use the platform, the smarter our infrastructure becomes,” Pisco explained.
Solid traction and a clear path to profitability
In less than 12 months of commercial operation, Cifrato reached US$1 million in annual recurring revenue with more than 270 direct clients and indirect impact on more than 3,500 companies. The company plans to reach operating breakeven next month, something rare for early-stage startups.
With the resources from this round, Cifrato aims to consolidate its operation in Colombia in 2026 and reach US$5 million in ARR and impact more than 10,000 businesses. “We are convinced that in the next decade AI is not going to eliminate the accountant, it is going to turn it into one of the most strategic pieces of the business, and we want to lead that transformation from Latin America,” Pisco concluded.
