Tax Tech Trailblazer: Benjamín Pérez's AI-Powered Solutions and Entrepreneurial Expansion with Wasabil Across LatAm Borders

-Liam smith

In Latin America’s fast-moving fintech hubs, tangled regulations and cross-border complexities continue to choke eCommerce growth. Yet, a new wave of innovation is dismantling these long-standing barriers, opening doors for entrepreneurs who once struggled to scale.

Leading this transformation is Benjamín Pérez, the highly regarded CEO and co-founder of Wasabil.

The tax automation SaaS platform was launched in August 2024 and was built to simplify compliance and empower digital businesses with AI-powered solutions.

“Emerging markets are not defined by their limitations, but by their potential,” says Benjamin. “Latin America is a region of bold entrepreneurs navigating volatility every day, and that resilience is its greatest strength. With this type of technology, we’re proving that AI-powered fintech can transform fragmentation into opportunity, giving entrepreneurs the tools, infrastructure, and confidence to scale not just locally, but globally.”

Benjamin’s journey spans from building a multimillion-dollar menswear brand to driving large-scale corporate digital transformations. He embodies the bold, tech-driven spirit that’s redefining the region’s startup landscape.

In 2019, Benjamin demonstrated his ability to build and scale successful ventures when The Qualis earned the Best Mid-Size eCommerce Award. This recognition highlighted his early impact in driving growth, innovation, and operational excellence in the competitive e-commerce space.

His entrepreneurial journey gained further momentum through international recognition. He was selected for the Start-Up Chile Build and Ignite Program, securing $35,000 in equity-free funding designed to accelerate high-potential startups. That same year, his company attracted a $200,000 investment from Platanus Ventures, known as the “Y Combinator of Latin America,” and benefited from its renowned acceleration program.

Adding to these achievements, Benjamin also received the Shopify 100K Milestone Award, an honor reserved for store owners who surpass 100,000 orders. This milestone underscored not only his ability to create scalable businesses but also his consistent track record of delivering real-world results in digital commerce.

Benjamin's idea for an automated tax platform was born from firsthand experience identifying inefficiencies in e-commerce. His SaaS startup is building a fintech ecosystem tailored for LatAm’s rapidly expanding digital economy, with a focus on AI-driven tax compliance and payments automation. Despite still being in its seed stage, Wasabil has already raised $225,000 in equity, achieved an ARR of $120,000, and built a subscriber base of 300+ merchants.

Wasabil isn’t just another fintech app; it’s becoming the operating system for e-commerce tax compliance in Latin America. In a region where digital tax regimes are already more advanced than those in the U.S., with Chile’s IRS mandating electronic invoicing years ahead of Washington, Benjamin saw both a challenge and an opportunity.

Wasabil’s platform goes beyond basic automation: it streamlines invoicing, ensures airtight compliance, and deploys AI-powered algorithms to flag risks, detect fraud, and optimize tax recoveries before problems even surface.

“We’re living a few years in the future compared to the U.S.,” says Benjamin, highlighting his vision to prepare businesses for the coming wave of global IRS digital modernization. That foresight is already paying off. In less than a year, Wasabil has attracted over 300 paying subscribers, built $120,000 in annual recurring revenue, and secured $225,000 in seed funding backed by Platanus Ventures, the ‘Y Combinator of LatAm,’ and StartUp Chile’s competitive equity-free grants.

Now, many other companies in the sphere are looking to Benjamin’s already implemented techniques and using them as inspiration for their own models. His application is already having a significant ripple effect on practices.

Patricio Castro, Benjamin’s former colleague at BC,I shares: “Having worked side by side with Benjamín at BCI, I saw firsthand how he turns bold ideas into real results. He has an exceptional ability to drive innovation while keeping teams aligned and inspired.”

He adds: “Benjamín is a pioneer in technology. His work in AI and automation shows how emerging tools can create real business value, making him one of the most forward-thinking entrepreneurs in the region.”

Few founders combine vision, resilience, and execution the way Benjamín does. He thrives in volatile markets, spotting opportunities others overlook and turning them into high-growth ventures.

Benjamin’s entrepreneurial growth strategy is the engine behind Wasabil’s rapid rise. He isn’t just building software, he’s deploying a bootstrap-to-scale playbook refined over a decade of ventures and corporate wins.

At The Qualis, the menswear brand he co-founded, Benjamin grew revenues past $2M and hit Shopify’s coveted 100K orders milestone, all by leveraging scrappy, low-cost growth hacks. He carried those tactics forward, beta testing with eCommerce insiders, hyper-targeted LinkedIn campaigns, and data-driven experimentation to Wasabil’s early traction.

Leonardo Ljubetić, who had the privilege of working closely with Benjamín from November 2019 through September 2024, reflects: “During those five years, I witnessed Benjamín’s exceptional ability to transform complex challenges into engines of growth. He was pivotal in scaling the Mach App from half a million to over one million users, optimizing marketing automation, and significantly reducing acquisition costs.”

Leonardo adds: “What sets Benjamin apart is his rare blend of startup agility, commercial acumen, and technical fluency in digital innovation, an exceptionally valuable and hard-to-find profile. He is equally adept at crafting high-level strategy and rolling up his sleeves to execute it with precision. His leadership was not only key to launching entirely new business categories from the ground up, but also to doing so with a level of speed, scalability, and impact that far exceeded expectations.”

Beyond his technical expertise, Benjamín consistently demonstrated entrepreneurial grit, sharp strategic vision, and a collaborative leadership style that inspired teams to surpass even their own expectations.

His corporate stints only sharpened the edge. At Shipit, he helped scale shipments to 30,000 per month by designing its growth stack from the ground up. At BCI Bank, he led automation initiatives that doubled Mach App’s user base from 500,000 to 1 million in just one year. Now, with Wasabil, Benjamin is proving his growth philosophy works just as powerfully in B2B fintech. The platform is delivering real value: SMBs are saving $15,000–$20,000 annually by consolidating tax tools, while a major fintech client has unlocked $150,000 in yearly efficiencies.

“What entrepreneurs need is not more obstacles, but more bridges,” says Benjamin. “We’re leveraging AI and fintech innovation to build those bridges, empowering businesses to expand across borders, compete globally, and thrive in a digital-first economy.”.

Beyond his entrepreneurial achievements, Benjamín is also a sought-after speaker, having addressed 300+ senior business leaders at ICARE, Chile’s premier business institute. A lifelong learner, he is pursuing his Executive MBA at Babson College, drawing on his global experience, which includes a double scholarship to study Mandarin at the University of Nanjing. This blend of thought leadership, advanced education, and international exposure fuels the cross-border vision he brings to Wasabil and beyond.

Digital innovation is the cornerstone of Benjamin’s playbook. He is weaving together RPA (robotic process automation) and AI-driven intelligence to build seamless integrations with tax authorities, effectively creating the connective tissue that eCommerce in Latin America has long lacked.

Beyond basic compliance, his AI system addresses region-specific pain points, currency volatility, fraud spikes, and fragmented regulations with precision automations designed to save companies millions in lost efficiency.

“We identify problems others don’t even recognize and then build automations that free entrepreneurs to focus on their core business,” Benjamin explains, drawing on both his growth-hacking past and his current Executive MBA studies.

This relentless focus on technology has the capacity to fix inefficiencies and enable ventures to scale in volatile, high-growth markets. Where many see economic uncertainty, Benjamin sees opportunity: preparing Wasabil for U.S. expansion, where the IRS is only beginning to digitize, and positioning the company to ride the coming wave of global tax modernization. In a world where regulation can suffocate growth, Benjamin is proving that intelligent automation can turn red tape into rocket fuel.

Benjamín brought a rare combination of entrepreneurial vision and technical expertise, enabling him to bridge IT, marketing, and strategic leadership seamlessly. His forward-thinking approach laid the foundation for innovative marketing practices at BCI, and his contributions proved essential in driving the success of key initiatives.

But Benjamin’s impact extends far beyond code. A resilient leader, skydiver, and a father of two, he embodies grit with empathy, championing family-first cultures where teams prioritize legacy over grind. His influence resonates across LatAm’s innovation ecosystem, with recognition such as Emerge Americas’ Top 100 LatAm Fintechs and thought leadership stages like ICARE, Chile’s premier business forum. Today, he is also shaping the conversation on ethical AI in taxation, pushing for technology that empowers rather than restricts.

Benjamin believes his SaaS platform represents a unifying force for Latin America’s fragmented financial technology (fintech) infrastructure. By tackling one of the region’s most persistent pain points —tax compliance through AI and automation —it is poised to unlock a $100B+ e-commerce market and empower an entire generation of digital entrepreneurs.

For Benjamín, the vision is clear: borders, bureaucracy, and complexity should never hold back innovation: “I believe taxes can now be seen as opportunities with the benefit of AI,” he emphasizes, a line that captures both his disruptive mindset and his pragmatic approach to growth.

To founders, investors, and policymakers seeking the future of emerging markets, Benjamin stands as far more than a fintech innovator. He is a rare kind of entrepreneur—one who combines creativity with resilience, technology with strategy, and local insight with global ambition. With proven expertise in growth strategy, digital transformation, and venture scaling, he is not simply shaping the future of eCommerce in Latin America; he is redefining what is possible when vision meets execution.