Automating the accounting bottleneck in Latin America

Accounting in Latin America is characterized by a unique combination of high regulatory digitization and heavy manual labor. Governments in the region were early adopters of electronic invoicing, requiring businesses to report transactions to tax authorities like Colombia's DIAN or Mexico's SAT in real time. However, the task of moving that data from government portals into a company’s internal ledger remains a significant bottleneck. Cifrato is a startup that addresses this gap by using artificial intelligence to automate the recording and reconciliation of these financial records.

Founded by Juan Pisco, Yerson Cacua, and Joan Cabezas, Cifrato is based in Colombia and is a member of the Y Combinator Winter 2025 cohort. The company focuses on a process known in Spanish as causación—the specific act of recording an invoice and assigning it to the correct accounts and cost centers. This is a task that has historically required human accountants to manually download XML files and re-key data into accounting software.

The Conta AI engine

Cifrato is built around a system they call Conta AI. The platform connects directly to the tax entities of various countries, including the SII in Chile, SUNAT in Peru, and ARCA in Argentina. Once connected, it automatically pulls electronic invoices, analyzes the content, and categorizes the data based on the specific tax rules and business logic of the client. This data is then pushed directly into the company’s existing ERP or POS software.

This approach is a departure from generic accounting tools. By specializing in the regional tax infrastructure, Cifrato handles the specific nuances of local retentions and tax codes that global platforms often overlook. The company claims to have processed over one million invoices with an automation rate of roughly 90%. Their integration list is a roll call of regional industry standards, featuring Siigo, Helisa, World Office, and Contai, alongside international platforms like Odoo.

Market position and founders

The leadership team brings significant experience in both engineering and regional entrepreneurship. CEO Juan Pisco is an exit-experienced founder who previously led TripPlanner. This practical background is reflected in the product’s design, which prioritizes a low technical barrier to entry for financial teams.

Cifrato is not attempting to replace the ERP; instead, it is an automation layer that sits between the government and the company ledger. As Latin American countries continue to tighten their digital tax reporting requirements, the volume of data that accountants must process will only grow. Cifrato is betting that AI agents capable of navigating these complex, structured environments will become essential infrastructure for businesses in the region. Their backing by Y Combinator and Google indicates a recognition of the scale of the manual accounting problem in emerging markets.