Chennai-based start-ups Pepul and IppoPay get funding

While Pepul, a social network platform, raised $1.5 million, IppoPay, a fintech venture, raised $2.1 million.

Two Chennai-based start-ups — Pepul and IppoPay — received funding on Tuesday.

Pepul, a social network platform where people can share their stories and skills with like-minded people, has raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round from venture capital firm Hourglass Ventures, Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham and Paytm’s Vijay Shekar Sharma.

Suresh Kumar G., founder and CEO of Pepul, said the funds raised would be utilised for building infrastructure, team expansion and user acquisition. “The Pepul Beta app has been downloaded across 177 countries, but the main focus of the platform is to acquire users across India,” he added.

Fintech start-up IppoPay has raised $2.1 million in seed funding from Coinbase Ventures, Better Capital, Blume Founders Fund and a number of high-profile angel investors.

The start-up provides payment infrastructure to small businesses to collect and distribute payments. IppoPay CEO, Mohan K., said the funds raised would be used to further strengthen IppoPay’s technology stack, including its payments engine, expand into new regions and market segments, like small to medium sized businesses. The company is also launching BNPL, a platform which will equip offline retailers to offer their customers easy access to credit at the point of sale.