Venture capital-backed Ripple Labs Inc entered into an agreement with ZipZap Inc to grow its digital currency and money transfer software services. The agreement would enable Ripple consumers to link their Ripple Wallets to ZipZap accounts. In turn, cash transaction network ZipZap would then be able to send payment made from a person's Ripple Wallet to a recipient who can claim the cash through any of ZipZap's payment centers located in hotels and pharmacies.

Venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, FF Angel IV, Google Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, IDG Capital Partners, Bitcoin Opportunity Fund and Vast Ventures provided capital funding for Ripple. So far, the San Francisco-based startup had raised a total of USD 3 million from its private equity backers to grow its platform.

According to a Bloomberg report, Ripple's latest partnership would enable the firm to compete with Western Union. The latter usually charges USD40 for every USD500 sent to any person in the US. ZipZap, meanwhile, would only charge a USD 3.95 transaction fee for as long as customers have USD 500 in their Ripple Wallet.