Mexican employee benefit startup Plerk secures $12 million in Series A

Oluwajuwonlo Afolabi -

Plerk, a Mexico-based startup offering employee benefits has secured $12 million in its Series A funding round led by Upload Ventures, Softbank's fund for early-stage ventures in Latin America.

  • Plerk evolved from the idea of a travel startup, Isibit, that the founders left behind while on the Y Combinator programme. It now uses a business-to-business (B2B) model to run a platform that gives companies the flexibility to offer benefits to their employees, including gym passes, telemedicine, and grocery vouchers among others.
  • Founded in 2019 by Miguel Medina, Angel Arias, and Jose Antonio Martinez, the startup idea is based on improving the lives of employees in Mexico beyond food vouchers. It provides fintech and banking solutions with benefits for employees.
  • The startup is already serving 300 businesses and 40 thousand employees in Mexico, Colombia, and Chile, the markets where it operates, it claims.
  • Magma Partners, 500 Global, MGV Capital, and angel investors such as Rappi, Frubana, and Truora participated in the round.