By Sayan Sen

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Mumbai-based fintech startup Pelocal on Tuesday said it raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by UNLEASH Capital Partners, Unicorn India Ventures, and angel investors as it aims to scale its payments orchestration platform.

Pelocal, founded in 2021, enables enterprises to acquire, engage, and collect from customers directly within WhatsApp, which has more than 700 million active users in India. The startup currently serves over 40 large enterprises across banking, transit, and utilities, delivering services to over 5 million monthly users.

“Until now, digital communications have largely been limited to peer-to-peer messages or one-way notifications. Our vision is to bring last-mile payments to the masses via WhatsApp by leveraging AI and advanced technologies. This fundraise enables us to execute that mission, and we’re thrilled to have the support of investors who share our conviction,” said Vivekanand Tripathi, Founder and CEO, Pelocal, in a statement.

Vikas Garg, Co-founder of Pelocal, said, “With strong market demand and the backing of our investors, we’re committed to delivering world-class products at the intersection of payments, communication, and enterprise technology.”

“Pelocal is redefining how enterprises interact and transact with customers by embedding payments into conversational interfaces like WhatsApp. With AI at the core, the company is solving a large-scale problem for Indian businesses and has the potential to scale globally,” said Natsuki Sugai, Managing Partner at UNLEASH Capital Partners.

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner at Unicorn India Ventures, added, “The surge in conversational commerce and embedded payment solutions presents a massive opportunity, and Pelocal is well-positioned to lead this transformation.”

Pelocal, in October 2024, raised $2 million in a seed round led by Unicorn India Ventures.
(Edited by Suman Singh)