Mumbai, Chennai, 19th November – PeLocal, a pioneer payment solutions provider within Whatsapp, has raised $2 million seed funding led by Unicorn India Ventures. The funds raised will be used to expand and enhance the platform and also help accelerate go-to-market strategies for rolling out large-scale projects.
In the last 12 months, PeLocal has grown from 500K monthly payments transactions to 3M monthly payment transactions. The Company aims to touch 10 M monthly payments transactions on WhatsApp in the next 12 months. PeLocal will also be launching a Marketing Catalogue on WhatsApp with Payments and SMB payments platform on WhatsApp.
Founded in 2021 by Vivekanand Tripathi (Founder & CEO), PeLocal empowers secure, end to end solutions leveraging cutting-edge communication channels and has been at the forefront of promoting payment platforms on Meta, pioneering the integration of WhatsApp for seamless transactions for clients like Delhi Metro, Indraprastha Gas, Mahanagar Gas, and is also trusted by multiple insurance companies for handling premium payments.
Commenting on the investment, Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says “India is undoubtedly amongst the fastest growing fintech markets in the world, driven by the rapid adoption of digital technologies. While the digital payment solutions are growing, there is still a need for a unique and simple digital payment solution for micro payments on the fly, which is what PeLocal is enabling through WhatsApp platform and enabling seamless experience for consumers and service providers. As we have a strong track record of investing in the fintech segment, we believe PeLocal will continue to sustain its momentum and also scale further with its innovative solutions and strengthen its leadership position in this space. PeLocal has seen 3X yearly growth rate in the last 24 months and will be launching new solutions. Hence, we believe the market opportunity is huge and the company has built the right momentum to capitalise on this segment.”
PeLocal’s vision is to become the leading provider of WhatsApp-based ticketing across various Indian states and organisations, while also driving the adoption of utility payments through WhatsApp.
Vivekanand Tripathi Founder & CEO, PeLocal, says, “PeLocal is thrilled to be backed by Unicorn India Ventures. The deep expertise and strategic insights of Unicorn’s leadership, as they have backed several high performing fintech startups, will be invaluable as we continue to build on our growth momentum. This is our maiden institutional funding and we believe it is a crucial step in the right direction, providing the support and guidance needed to fuel our continued expansion and success.”
PeLocal aims to be the leading aggregator, leveraging technologies like WhatsApp for seamless, secure, and customer-centric transactions. It also bridges the gap between merchants and consumers envisioning the idea of being for ‘Vocal for Local.’ The company plans to go aggressively on payments in WhatsApp and further strengthen its leadership position in the payments solutions market.
