Cupi Eases Business UPI Payouts
A business UPI payments tool called Cupi is gaining traction among startups and small merchants for enabling instant vendor payouts. The platform solves a common pain point by eliminating the need for reimbursements or using personal funds for business expenses.
Cupi, which stands for Corporate UPI, was created by founder Nithin Prakash out of his own frustration with being unable to use company funds for small, UPI-based business expenses like auto-rickshaw rides during his travels. This experience revealed a gap where employees were consistently forced to pay out-of-pocket because corporate cards lack universal acceptance, particularly with smaller merchants in India. The platform's architecture is built on a PPI-on-UPI framework. A business loads funds into a primary company wallet, and when an employee needs to make a payment, the exact amount is transferred "just-in-time" to a dedicated employee wallet to complete the UPI transaction. If a payment fails, the funds are returned to the main company wallet, not left in the employee's. This system gives finance teams the ability to set customized spending limits for individual employees, teams, or specific projects, offering a layer of control absent in traditional reimbursement models. It provides real-time visibility into all transactions, instantly logging and categorizing every expense as it occurs. By moving corporate spending onto UPI rails, Cupi aims to eliminate the reliance on cash advances and the cumbersome process of chasing employees for bills and receipts. The company claims this can lead to a threefold faster month-end financial closure and four times better control over expenditures.
