PeLocal raises $2m in Seed round led by Unicorn India Ventures

By Gloria Mathias

PeLocal, an Indian payment solutions provider within WhatsApp, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Unicorn India Ventures.

The funds raised will expand and enhance the platform and help accelerate the go-to-market strategies for rolling out large-scale projects.

PeLocal runs a payment solution on Meta, pioneering the integration of WhatsApp for seamless transactions across a wide range of sectors, such as urban travel, utility bills, and financial services, including insurance premium payments.

In the last 12 months, PeLocal has grown from 500K monthly payments transactions to 3 million monthly payments transactions. The company aims to touch 10 million monthly payment transactions on WhatsApp in the next 12 months. Founded in 2021 by Vivekanand Tripathi (Founder and CEO), PeLocal empowers secure, end-to-end solutions leveraging communication channels and has been at the forefront of promoting payment platforms on Meta.

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner of Unicorn India Ventures, said, “India is undoubtedly among the fastest-growing FinTech markets in the world, driven by the rapid adoption of digital technologies. While digital payment solutions are growing, there is still a need for a unique and simple digital payment solution for micropayments on the fly, which is what PeLocal is enabling through the WhatsApp platform and enabling a 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, scale further with its innovative solutions, and strengthen its leadership position in this space.”

PeLocal’s vision is to become the provider of WhatsApp-based ticketing across various Indian states and organisations and to drive the adoption of utility payments through WhatsApp.

Vivekanand Tripathi, Founder and CEO of PeLocal, shared, “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.”