Fintech Startup Paerpay Secures $3 Million in Funding for Its Contactless Payment Platform

By Adriaan Brits | Tuesday, 15 March 2022 | Startup, Finance, Tech

Fintech startup company Paerpay announced it has secured $3 million in a business seed funding round led by MassMutual. The round brought the total funding raised to more than $4.2 million. Other business investors that participated in the most recent funding round include Elevate Capital, MassVentures, Techstars, The Fund, Gaingels, and Chingona Ventures.

Business Pivot at the Right Time

Paerpay is a Boston-based startup company founded in 2017 by Derek Canton. The fintech startup company started as an in-person dining payment app developed to help consumers pay for their meals instantly and efficiently. 

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Canton decided to shift the focus of his startup business to contactless payments, which proved to be a masterstroke. The contactless payments industry gained great importance in the restaurant industry during the devastating pandemic. 

Paerpay has developed a contactless payments platform that eliminates the need for credit card processors or other devices. By simply utilizing their QR code and text message payment system, restaurants can avoid contact with the customers while maintaining high-payment security and efficiency. 

The startup company’s technology allows users to adapt to the ever-changing fintech landscape as countless new payment methods powered by blockchain and other technologies continue to emerge in the market.

Canton, who is also a CEO of Paerpay, said the startup company’s contactless payment offering puts it in a unique position to take a big step in rapidly growing their business.

The startup company plans to use the raised business capital to expand its engineering, sales, and marketing teams. Paerpay also expects to fuel its scaling process and aggressively expand this year. 

The business launched an experimental project with major restaurant brands to help them reduce drive-through wait times and enhance the overall customer experience. The pilot project involves consumers ordering through a speaker and scanning a QR code to see order details and conduct the payment. 

This approach removes the need to swipe a credit card at the window, saving a significant amount of time for both restaurants and consumers. One of Paerpay’s collaborators is Acrelec, a global technology company that supplies top restaurant chains and retailers with interactive kiosks. 

Jason Allen, Lead Portfolio Manager at life insurance company MassMutual, expects contactless payments to play a pivotal role “in how consumers interact and what they expect when it comes to payment options.”

Paerpay’s business offering provides restaurant brands with an efficient and simple payment solution that integrates with their existing systems, Allen added. MassMutual believes in Canton, his vision, and leadership. As such, the company is honored to back the fintech startup company with business funding and resources throughout its journey.

MassMutual made the investment via its MM Catalyst Fund, which is a $50 million fund launched to support Massachusetts-based startup companies. The fund is divided between two equal sleeves of $25 million with half reserved for backing Black-owned founded, or managed businesses across Massachusetts. The second half is used to provide business funding for tech startup companies based outside the Boston area.

Summary

Boston-based fintech startup company Paerpay announced it has raised $3 million in a seed funding round led by MassMutual, bringing its total funding raised to more than $4.2 million.

About the Author

Adriaan Brits

An analyst of global affairs, Adriaan has an MSC from Oxford, with diverse interests in the digital economy, entertainment, and business. He is a specialist trainer in advanced analytics and media.