Kenyan e-Commerce startup Chpter raises $1.2m to accelerate growth

Kenyan e-Commerce startup Chpter raises $1.2m to accelerate growth

Published: 03-09-2024 13:39:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 712 | Tags:
e-Commerce
Kenya
Retail
September 2024
Social Media
Tech
Venture Capital & Private Equity

Chpter, a Kenyan AI-powered conversational commerce platform, has secured $1.2 million in pre-seed round.

The round was led by Ken Njoroge of PANI, who is the Co-founder and Former CEO of Cellulant. With participation and commitments from Plesion Capital, Techstars, Norrsken, Renew Capital, ViKtoria Ventures, and angel investors including NALA Founder and CEO Benjamin Fernandes, and Workpay Co-founders Paul Kimani and Jackson Kibigo.

Chpter enables businesses to sell more on social platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram. The company does this by providing an AI-powered conversational commerce platform and automating conversations, marketing and payments all in one place.

Chpter is already live in Kenya and South Africa, powering hundreds of businesses across e-commerce and retail, financial services, education, media and entertainment, travel and hospitality, health and wellness. 

Tesh Mbaabu, Co-founder and CEO, Chpter: ''We are thrilled to pioneer the social commerce revolution, starting in Africa, as more and more consumers turn to social channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to communicate and purchase from the brands they love. Specifically, WhatsApp’s role in business communication cannot be overstated. With more than two billion active users, it offers an unparalleled platform for businesses to offer support, engage in sales conversations, and maintain customer relationships''

Mark Kiarie, Co-founder and COO, Chpter: ''A WhatsApp-led e-Commerce experience makes it more inclusive and accessible to the underserved mass market, due to its low data and digital literacy requirements as well as the over 95% usage rate in many emerging markets.''

Chpter will use the capital in three key areas: Accelerate product development of its conversational commerce offering, expand its product availability across more countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and enhance its sales and marketing efforts on the back of growing demand from leading brands.

app.chpter.co

 

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