The Fintech Founders Rewiring How Banks Go Digital
PurplePlum was founded in October 2020 by three co-founders, offering innovative digital solutions and services across India and the USA.
[L-R] Sai Sandeep Sadasivuni & Kalyan Karteek Sadasivuni, Co-Founders, PurplePlum
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After building and exiting a fintech company, Kalyan Karteek Sadasivuni and Sai Sandeep Sadasivuni realised that most banks globally weren’t struggling to innovate, they were struggling to connect their own systems into a single, usable experience. “It always bothered us that banking had gone digital—but not intuitive,” says Kalyan. “Despite all the apps and channels, the experience underneath was still broken.”
That frustration—shaped by over a decade of building, scaling, and exiting fintech products—became the foundation of Purpleplum, a banking infrastructure company that is quietly helping financial institutions modernise how they engage with customers, without ripping apart their existing systems. Purpleplum today works with 20+ banks, credit unions, fintechs, and enterprises across India, the US, the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia, powering end-to-end digital customer journeys for institutions that still run on legacy cores.
Both founders began as engineers. Graduates in Electronics Engineering, their early careers diverged in a way that would later prove complementary. In 2014, the two came together to co-found Click&Pay, which was among India’s earliest QR code–based payment platforms. It scaled significantly during the 2016 demonetisation, when transaction volumes more than doubled, the merchant/ customer base expanded rapidly and the company raised capital amid accelerated adoption.This journey ultimately led to a successful acquisition by Zaggle in 2018, marking their first fintech exit and shaping a long-term view on banking infrastructure.
While consumer tech companies orchestrated complex ecosystems with a single tap, banks were still operating in silos—onboarding in one system, core banking in another, lending elsewhere, and customer support disconnected from all of it.
Globally, over 70% of banks still run on legacy technology, spending 80–90% of their IT budgets just keeping systems alive, not innovating.
“The problem wasn’t a lack of digital channels,” says Kalyan. “It was the operating model itself.”
Purpleplum was conceived as a customer-journey orchestration layer—a platform that sits above existing cores, integrates fragmented systems, and allows financial institutions to design, launch, and scale modern digital experiences without replacing their core infrastructure.
Purpleplum’s core proposition is deceptively simple: help banks, credit unions, and fintechs go live journeys in under 90 days, while remaining fully compliant and scalable.
All delivered through a microservices-based, API-first architecture that integrates seamlessly with existing core banking systems, card platforms, and payment rails.
“We don’t replace the core,” explains Sandeep. “We make it usable in the modern world.” This core-agnostic approach has allowed Purpleplum to partner with institutions across geographies, including Zenus Bank (USA), Lulu Exchange and Ruya Bank (UAE), Infinox (UK), Paycarft (India), OMNI (Singapore) and others.
With 100+ employees and offices in India and the USA, Purpleplum has steadily expanded its footprint innovating global banking through AI agents and crypto payments. The year 2025 marked a turning point, as the company transitioned from a strong product-led startup into a global fintech infrastructure platform.
The biggest challenge? Navigating regulatory diversity across markets without compromising speed. “That tension made us stronger,” says Kalyan. “Fintech rewards patience.”
The company has raised a $2 million seed round from US-based investors and is preparing for a $5 million Pre-Series A to accelerate international growth.
The revenue model is built on recurring SaaS fees, enterprise licensing, and transaction-based income, offering strong visibility and improving margins. While not yet fully break-even, the company is on a clear path toward profitability as deployments scale without proportional cost increases.
“We’ve learned this the hard way,” says Sandeep. “In fintech, trust compounds slower than growth—but it lasts longer.”
“Our ambition isn’t to be loud,” Kalyan concludes. “It’s to become invisible infrastructure—powering the best banking experiences without being seen.”
Facts:
- Number of Co-Founders: 3
- Number of Employees: 100+ across India and the USA
- Year of Company Inception: October 2020
After building and exiting a fintech company, Kalyan Karteek Sadasivuni and Sai Sandeep Sadasivuni realised that most banks globally weren’t struggling to innovate, they were struggling to connect their own systems into a single, usable experience. “It always bothered us that banking had gone digital—but not intuitive,” says Kalyan. “Despite all the apps and channels, the experience underneath was still broken.”
That frustration—shaped by over a decade of building, scaling, and exiting fintech products—became the foundation of Purpleplum, a banking infrastructure company that is quietly helping financial institutions modernise how they engage with customers, without ripping apart their existing systems. Purpleplum today works with 20+ banks, credit unions, fintechs, and enterprises across India, the US, the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia, powering end-to-end digital customer journeys for institutions that still run on legacy cores.
Both founders began as engineers. Graduates in Electronics Engineering, their early careers diverged in a way that would later prove complementary. In 2014, the two came together to co-found Click&Pay, which was among India’s earliest QR code–based payment platforms. It scaled significantly during the 2016 demonetisation, when transaction volumes more than doubled, the merchant/ customer base expanded rapidly and the company raised capital amid accelerated adoption.This journey ultimately led to a successful acquisition by Zaggle in 2018, marking their first fintech exit and shaping a long-term view on banking infrastructure.
