Chpter Secures $1.2 Million in Pre-Seed Funding to Expand AI-Powered Conversational Commerce in Sub-Saharan Africa
Chpter, an AI-powered conversational commerce platform that empowers merchants to boost sales on social platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram, has successfully raised $1.2 million in its Pre-Seed funding round.
The round was spearheaded by Ken Njoroge of PANI, the Co-founder and Former CEO of Cellulant, with additional investments from Plesion Capital, Techstars, Norrsken, Renew Capital, ViKtoria Ventures, and angel investors such as Benjamin Fernandes, Founder and CEO of NALA, and Paul Kimani and Jackson Kibigo, Co-founders of Workpay.
Speaking on the funding round, Tesh Mbaabu, Co-Founder and CEO at Chpter said,
“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.”
Launched in Kenya in 2022, Chpter plans to leverage this new capital to focus on three strategic areas: (i) Accelerating the development of its conversational commerce platform, (ii) Expanding its product availability across additional countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and (iii) Strengthening its sales and marketing initiatives to meet the growing demand from leading brands.
The platform enables businesses to harness the potential of social media platforms to drive sales by engaging customers directly where they spend their time, creating stronger customer relationships through personalized marketing, and streamlining customer interactions across multiple platforms via a unified dashboard.
In addition, it has rolled-out chpter.AI, a chatbot and AI-powered sales and customer service agent, designed to ensure that no sales opportunities are missed. This tool guarantees faster responses to customer inquiries, thereby increasing sales conversion rates.
Currently, Chpter operates in Kenya and South Africa, supporting hundreds of businesses across various sectors including ecommerce and retail, financial services, education, media and entertainment, travel and hospitality, and health and wellness.
