M2P Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates payments-focussed application programming interface (API) startup YAP has raised $4.5 million (Rs 34.62 crore at current exchange rates), barely two months after its angel funding round.
The Series A funding round has been led by Singapore-based Beenext. Others that took part in the round include Vikram Chachra-led 8i Ventures Fund, the DMI Group via its investment vehicle Sparkle Fund, and Better Capital.
Angel investors such as Alok Mittal, Bharatpe chief executive officer Ashneer Grover and existing investors Amrish Rau, Jitendra Gupta, and Abhishant Pant also participated, YAP said in a statement.
The Chennai-based company will use the funds to strengthen its team, build its technological infrastructure and API product and service portfolio.
In February, YAP raised Rs 10 crore (around $1.4 million) in an angel funding round led by Rau, with participation from Pant, Gupta, Chachra in his personal capacity, and Kunal Shah. At the time, the payments infrastructure company said it would use the capital for growth expansion and developing banking-focussed products.
YAP, incorporated in 2014, was founded by Madhusudhanan R, Muthukumar A and Prabhu R. The firm says its API platform is used by its customers to open new financial accounts, issues and process payments and co-create new products.
The company says its API bundle includes financial products such as bank accounts, payments products and newer methods such as QR and unified payment interface (UPI).
“I have been actively looking for a fintech firm in India for the past 12 months and was happy when I met Madhu, Muthu and Prabhu and heard about their very unique founding journey,” Quaquebeke said.
Deals in the fintech segment
The fintech segment has seen heavy investor activity for startups across all stages. Startups in verticals such as wealth management and neo-banking have pocketed large cheques. Companies in the space are seeking to apply new technologies to traditional financial products and bring more people into formal financial structures.
Earlier this month, VCCircle exclusively reported that mobile wallet firm ZipCash had raised its Series A funding round from a mix of domestic and foreign backers. Also this month, Juspay Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a payments technology firm, raised $21.6 million in its Series B funding round led by a Swedish investor.
Entellus Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates enterprise-focussed neo-banking platform Nupay, raised funding in a seed investment round led by startup incubator and accelerator Venture Catalysts in January.
That month, EpiFi Technologies Pvt. Ltd raised $13.2 million (around Rs 93.5 crore) in seed funding at a valuation of around $50 million from investors such as Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital and Hillhouse Capital.
