Salsa
Also a provider — view Salsa’s profile →“Can an API-first payroll infrastructure company become the default embedded payroll layer for vertical SaaS platforms?”
Founded2021
FoundersJohn Kramer, Juan Barroso
Total raised$30M+
Latest roundSeries A, $20M
IndustryInfrastructure / Payroll
The story
Salsa was founded in 2021 to solve the developer-facing side of payroll — a category dominated by legacy incumbents (ADP, Paychex) and one embedded competitor (Check). The company's thesis is that vertical SaaS platforms want to launch their own branded payroll products, and that requires API infrastructure that handles calculations, tax filings, and money movement. Salsa has positioned itself as a Check alternative with US + Canada coverage in a single API, GraphQL access, and no co-branding.
Product timeline
2021
Salsa founded by John Kramer (former COO of HoneyBook) and Juan Barroso (former engineering leader at Intuit QuickBooks Payroll) to build embedded payroll APIs.· pivot
2023
Raised $10M to expand embedded payroll APIs for software companies.· banking
2024
Announced strategic partnership with Plaid for instant bank account verification in payroll onboarding.· banking
2025
Raised $20M Series A to scale embedded payroll infrastructure.· banking
2026
Launched fully integrated workforce + payroll solution and expanded overtime engine features.· banking
The stack
7 layers disclosed in Salsa’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Money movement
in the full report
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Payroll
in the full report
Open banking
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
7 more providers across 6 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.