WRU Escrow, contract and settlement infrastructure

Get paid.
Every single
time.

WRU is escrow infrastructure for creative work. The buyer prefunds a licensed bank escrow account before delivery begins. On acceptance, the rules engine executes a ledgered split across artist, manager, platform fee, GST and TDS, the same day.

See the operating flow
Custody sits with a licensed partner PAN, GSTIN, Udyam and bank verified GST and TDS captured at source MSME ready evidence packs
Live booking · WRU 2617
Funds secured
Buyer
Monsoon Live Pvt Ltd
₹1,29,800
NEFT via partner rail
In escrow ₹0 Licensed bank custody
Artist₹65,000
Manager₹31,106
Tax₹29,800
WRU₹3,894
Deposit credited, webhook verified
Partner led custody, never pooled Contracts eSigned and version pinned Ledgered splits with zero variance Append only evidence with hash stamps Disputes freeze settlement instantly

01 · The product

A locked box between you and whoever is paying you.

Three mechanisms, working together. Money in before the work starts, terms fixed before the money moves, and a settlement that executes itself. Everything else WRU does exists to protect one of those three.

Mechanism one

Prefunded, not promised

The buyer funds a licensed bank escrow account before delivery begins. WRU never takes custody of your money. You see the cleared balance and the settlement reference in your dashboard the moment it lands.

No cleared funds, no start date. That is the entire rule.
Mechanism two

Parameterised contracts

You choose the commercial terms: advance percentage, inspection window, holdback, cancellation notice and dispute forum. The clause set is generated from a version pinned template and eSigned by every party.

You pick business parameters. You never draft legal language.
Mechanism three

Deterministic settlement

On acceptance, or when the inspection window lapses without a dispute, the rules engine issues a split instruction. Artist entitlement, manager commission, platform fee, GST and TDS each settle into their own ledger bucket.

Same day, same references, reconciled to zero variance.

02 · Operating flow

How a booking actually moves.

Four parties, eight states, one settlement. The diagram below runs on its own, or you can click any node to read what happens at that point in the flow.

Booking lifecycle · swimlane view

03 · By role

Four seats at the table.

One platform, four very different jobs. Pick the seat you sit in.

04 · Market

Everyone agrees on WhatsApp.
Nobody agrees on paper.

India's creative economy scaled faster than its contracting and payment controls. Deals close in chat, invoices arrive late, signing authority goes unverified, and the party that has already delivered holds the least leverage in the room.

₹0 cr
Organised Indian live events market
0%
Live events growth in a single year
0%
Surveyed artists reporting non payment on at least one show
₹0 cr
Creator deals lost to broken comms and unverified intermediaries

Delayed settlement

Promoters, brands and agencies pay on their own schedule. Suppliers chase manually for months.

Prefunded deposits, automatic release triggers, hard due dates and a lawful escalation pack that assembles itself.

Counterparty opacity

Nobody checks whether the manager is mandated or the signatory is authorised until it is already a problem.

Tiered KYC and KYB, plus a separate authority record proving who may quote, sign, invoice and collect.

Weak contracting

Scope, cancellation, kill fees and acceptance criteria get agreed informally, then litigated informally.

Parameterised templates. You set commercial terms, the clause set is generated, versioned and eSigned.

Manual commission

Managers deduct after the fact, or rely on the artist to remit. Both sides reconcile from memory.

Split rules are ledger entries. Every party settles at the same moment, against the same instruction.

No evidence trail

When it breaks, the proof is spread across chat threads, email and a folder of screenshots.

Signed contract, invoice, payment proof, delivery proof and an append only audit log in one vault.

Unsafe escalation

Public naming creates defamation, privacy and intimidation exposure, usually for the party who was owed.

Private risk record, verified notice status, right to reply, and a formal process that stays factual.

05 · Architecture

System of record, not custodian.

This split is the single most consequential decision in the business. WRU owns the deal object, the state machine, the ledger and the release instruction. A licensed payment aggregator or bank partner owns custody. That boundary is what keeps WRU outside the RBI payment aggregator perimeter while it earns the track record to go deeper.

WRU controls

The deal, the rules, the proof.

Deal object and party graph. Contract templates and versions. Invoice state machine. Split rules and the ledger. Evidence vault and audit log. Release instruction. Dispute outcome.

Deal objectContract engine Rules engineLedger Evidence vaultDispute console
Partner controls

Custody, and only custody.

Collection over UPI, NEFT and RTGS. Safeguarded escrow balances. Regulated KYC. Payout execution to validated beneficiaries. Refunds. Settlement records and transaction references.

Collection railsSafeguarded custody Regulated KYCPayout execution RefundsSettlement records

An adapter layer abstracts the partner from day one, so no single provider can hold the book hostage.

RBI perimeter

Partner led custody, no pooling of customer funds. Direct custody is a late stage question with a capital and governance cost, not an MVP shortcut.

GST invoicing

GSTIN, SAC, taxable value, place of supply, CGST, SGST, IGST and eInvoice metadata are first class invoice fields, not free text.

TDS by role

Withholding differs by payer, payee and supply type. WRU stores the section, the rate and the certificate obligation as structured data.

MSMED and DPDP

Udyam readiness with filing ready evidence packs. Minimum data collection, stated purpose, access by role, retention limits and a breach playbook.

06 · Unit economics

One booking, fully unpacked.

A ₹1,00,000 fee never lands as ₹1,00,000. Move any input and the whole ledger rebuilds, including which side carries the platform fee. It reconciles to zero in every configuration.

Collected into escrow
₹1,29,800
Protected
Ledger bucketBeneficiaryAmount
Reconciled. Inflow equals outflow. ₹0 variance

Illustrative. WRU records tax context as structured, exportable metadata. It does not provide tax advice, and your CA still signs the return.

Escrow

Buyer prefunds a deposit, a milestone or the full value. Release is governed strictly by the signed triggers.

Default mode. Gigs, campaigns, anything with cost upfront.

Invoice secured

No prefunding, but contract, invoice, acceptance and the late payment workflow are all locked in.

For enterprise buyers whose procurement cannot prepay.

Guarantee assisted

Limited risk cover backed by a reserve and an insurer or financier. Deliberately held back for later phases.

Ships only with underwriting data and legal opinions.

Recovery

Structured reminders, demand notices, MSME filing, arbitration and court packs, generated from your own evidence.

A backstop, never the headline promise.

07 · Coverage

Start where the ticket size
already carries the fee.

Managed bookings and project services between three parties. High enough value to absorb 3% to 8% platform economics, in markets where documentation is already commercially expected.

Beachhead

Artist managers and booking agents

Commission secured booking by booking. Create the deal, issue one link, collect through the partner rail, and settle the manager share the moment funds release.

The strongest opening wedge. The pain repeats weekly.

Artists, bands and sound systems

A disclosed fee, a visible commission, a payout date that does not depend on anyone remembering, and protection that does not cost a working relationship.

Adoption rises when the whole flow is visible to both sides.

Promoters, venues and organisers

One link for contract, invoice, payment, cancellation terms and receipts. Finance teams get settlement records that actually reconcile.

Buyers prefer predictable paperwork to being chased.

Production, AV, fabrication and crew

Escrowed advances before mobilisation, milestone billing, Udyam readiness and evidence backed collection.

Larger tickets carry the platform fee comfortably.

Creator agencies and brands

Locked briefs, approval trails, delivery evidence and release on acceptance rather than release to whoever escalates hardest.

Campaign workflows are repetitive, so they template well.

Design studios and freelancers

Milestone release, revision caps and IP transfer only on cleared funds. Scope creep becomes a priced change order instead of an argument.

A clean, high value horizontal well beyond music.

08 · Governance

Six things WRU will never do.

A trust business is defined as much by its refusals as its features. Each of these is a documented way that platforms in this category destroy themselves.

We will never hold customer funds ourselves.

Custody sits with a licensed payment aggregator or bank partner. Taking custody directly triggers authorisation, capital, governance and safeguarding obligations that no early stage platform should assume before it has earned the track record.

We will never publish a public defaulter directory.

Naming and shaming invites defamation, privacy, competition law and criminal intimidation exposure, usually landing on the party who was owed. Instead: a private risk record, verified notice status, a genuine right to reply, and only adjudicated outcomes shared.

We will never send a threatening message in your name.

Every generated notice is factual, evidence backed and framed around the signed obligation. No pressure tactics, no reputational coercion, no debt collector theatre.

We will never promise cover we have not reserved for.

An unfunded guarantee is a solvency problem wearing a marketing hat. Guarantee assisted cover ships only with a reserve, an insurer or financier, real underwriting data and formal legal opinions.

We will never let software adjudicate a dispute alone.

The rules engine freezes the balance, applies the signed cancellation matrix and assembles the evidence. A human reviewer applies judgement and signs the outcome. No automated verdicts, and no smart contract theatre standing in for a real remedy.

We will never give you tax advice.

WRU captures GST and TDS as structured, configurable, exportable metadata and hands your accountant a clean file. The determination stays with your CA, where it belongs.

09 · Commercials

Priced as loss avoidance,
not as another gateway fee.

You are buying verified counterparties, working capital protection, automatic splits, fewer disputes and documentation that survives a tribunal.

Starter
Creators and managers evaluating the platform
Free
Escrow fee per funded booking
  • Verified profile
  • Standard contract pack
  • Payment links
  • Evidence vault
2% to 4% of protected value
Pro Manager
Beachhead
Artist managers, booking agents, small agencies
₹1,999 to ₹4,999
per month
  • Automatic commission splits
  • Authority mandate records
  • Booking pipeline and CRM
  • Full template library
  • Circumvention and tail clauses
2% to 4%, or a discounted volume rate
Vendor Secure
Production vendors, studios, design practices
₹2,999 to ₹9,999
per month
  • Milestone prefunding
  • GST ready invoicing
  • Delivery evidence packs
  • Udyam and MSME readiness
Rate scales with ticket size
Agency
Agencies, venues and promoter teams
₹15,000 to ₹75,000
per month
  • Approval hierarchies
  • Vendor onboarding at scale
  • Finance exports
  • Cancellation exposure view
Lower transaction rate plus seats
Enterprise
Festival groups, ticketing and promoter networks
Custom
Annual licence plus usage
  • White label portal
  • Custom clause libraries
  • API and webhooks
  • Enhanced KYB workflows
  • Service level agreement
Setup plus annual licence

Year one

₹36 cr

protected GMV · 2,000 bookings


Revenue
₹2.60 cr
EBITDA
(₹1.99 cr)

Year two

₹168 cr

protected GMV · 8,000 bookings


Revenue
₹12.04 cr
EBITDA
₹1.66 cr

Year three

₹480 cr

protected GMV · 20,000 bookings


Revenue
₹34.80 cr
EBITDA
₹14.44 cr

Economics improve sharply as the book skews escrow rather than guarantee. Escrowed money removes the loss before it occurs. Lean build needs ₹1.5 cr to ₹2.5 cr. A serious launch needs ₹3 cr to ₹5 cr.

10 · The raise

Seed round, open.

Capital goes into the two things that compound in this business: the regulatory structure that lets WRU hold a position of trust, and the operations desk that keeps settlement clean while volume climbs.

₹3 to 5 cr
Seed round, primary
18 mo
Runway to a defensible book
6.5%
Blended take rate on protected value
Year 2
First positive EBITDA at ₹168 cr protected

Use of funds

Product and engineering34%
Legal structuring and partner integration22%
Operations, verification and dispute desk21%
Go to market and partnerships15%
Reserve for selective cover8%

What the round buys

A signed custody partner and a legal opinion that puts the perimeter question to bed
The beachhead cohort of managers and vendors transacting weekly, not occasionally
Enough settlement history to underwrite cover rather than guess at it
An enterprise reference account in the festival or promoter network tier

The defensibility is not the software. It is the settlement history, the counterparty graph and the partner relationships, none of which a competitor can buy.

11 · Identity

The U is a vessel.

Three monoline letters on one geometric grid. The U is not simply the last letter, it is a container, and the mint bar resting inside it is value being held. That element becomes the app icon, the loading state and the proof of funds indicator across the entire product.

We Are You
Wordmark · icon · level indicator

Cap height 56, one uniform stroke weight, round caps and joins. The W is two parties meeting. The R steps forward, which is the release. The U holds.

Palette

Ink
#05070A
Secured
#46E3AC
Pending
#F5B841
Frozen
#FF6F7D
System
#8093FF

Colour is never decorative here. Every accent is a real state in the money machine, so the palette is learned by using the product.


Empty U means nothing protected. Filling U means funds arriving. Full U means secured. The icon animates as a genuine progress indicator during funding, so the mark does a job rather than sitting there.

The platform

Now go move some money.

Twelve modules, five roles, a booking you can build from scratch and push through all eleven states, a live ledger, a message thread that doubles as evidence, and a dispute console. Switch the register between Standard and Technical at the top of the app.