Rasmus Lerdorf, founder of the PHP programming language has joined WePay. Lerdorf quit Yahoo! last November and now he will be leading the development of the WePay API. The API will be available to a limited number of developers this summer. WePay is a company that helps you collect money from a group of people that owe you. Competitor PayPal is more known for one-to-one payments. WePay has become especially useful for fraternities that and college roommates. [TechCrunch]

WePay, a startup where groups of people manage financial accounts has just raised $1.65 million in their first round of funding. August Capital and several angel investors were involved in the WePay funding. WePay can be used for invoice production, money collection, and transaction management.

WePay was founded by Boston College students Bill Clerico and Rich Alberman. The company has been moved to Silicon Valley ever since and has moved into Palo Alto’s University Avenue where Facebook used to be based. Interestingly WePay’s founders had a hard time finding funding out in Boston. The investors in Boston said that they were too much in the early stages. Y Combinator ended up accepting WePay.

WePay makes money by taking 3.5% from every transaction, similar to the PayPal business model. WePay is starting by partnering with small companies and professional groups. Some of the angel investors include Max Levchin (PayPal co-founder), Paul Buccheit, Ron Conway, Mark Goines, Angus Davis, Andrew McCollum, and Joe Campanelli.