Latin America has its own Square – Evertec, which produces the EverPay reader — and now it seems it has its own PayPal. A new company called Pipol, based in Santiago, Chile, is currently seeking funding for its mobile payments service. The company will offer both person-to-person payments to merchants, both online and at the point of sale. P2P services are nothing new in Latin America, but combining that with a POS payment solution seems to be where Pipol will seek to differentiate. (Lots of Ps in that sentence.) The company’s website features the motto, “Pronto la Revolucion del Dinero” — “The Money Revolution is Coming” — and an image of a smartphone. Beyond that, little information is available about the company. The founder and CEO, Francisco Javier Opazo Neira, lists his university but no prior work experience on his LinkedIn page. Chile has a strong startup scene, with a government-funded program that has helped launch mobile payment service Regalii, which uses gift-card rails to send low-cost international payments.
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