Kenyan Chpter Raises $1.2M to Boost Sales on Social Platforms

Kenyan social commerce platform Chpter has secured $1.2 million in pre-seed funding to empower businesses to sell more through social platforms.

Ken Njoroge of PANI led the funding with participation from Plesion Capital, Techstars, Norrsken, Renew Capital, ViKtoria Ventures, and notable angel investors including Benjamin Fernandes of NALA and Paul Kimani and Jackson Kibigo of Workpay.

“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,” says Tesh Mbaabu, Co-Founder and CEO at Chpter. 

“Specifically, WhatsApp’s role in business communication cannot be overstated. With over two billion active users, it offers an unparalleled platform for businesses to offer support, engage in sales conversations, and maintain customer relationships, he continued.”

Chpter’s new funding will accelerate product development, expand product availability, and enhance sales and marketing efforts. Launched in 2022, Chpter helps merchants boost sales on WhatsApp and Instagram through automated marketing, conversations, and payments.

Currently operating in Kenya and South Africa, the AI-powered conversational commerce platform plans to expand soon to Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, and Morocco.

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Leveraging African E-commerce Growth

E-commerce in Africa is expected to grow to $46 billion by 2025, with over 500 million shoppers. Social or conversational commerce, which involves buying and selling over social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and TikTok, has grown. It accounts for most of the e-commerce activity on the continent because it is user-friendly and easily accessible.

However, these businesses struggle with conversion, payments, order placements, order management, and fulfillment, resulting in poor customer experience and low trust. Mesongo Sibuti (CTO), Kuria Kevin (CPO), Mark Kiarie (COO), and Tesh Mbaabu (CEO) partnered to solve these problems through 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,” said Mark Kiarie, Co-Founder and COO at Chpter.

Chpter helps businesses use social media to drive sales by meeting customers on their preferred platforms. The platform also builds stronger customer connections through personalized marketing and simplifies customer conversations by unifying chats in a single dashboard.

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Chpter’s Widening Influence

The new fund injection will accelerate product development, expand into additional Sub-Saharan markets, and enhance its sales and marketing efforts. Chpter is already live in Kenya and South Africa, powering hundreds of businesses in e-commerce and retail, financial services, education, media and entertainment, travel and hospitality, and health and wellness.

Now a Meta Partner, Chpter offers businesses advanced tools like easy checkout on WhatsApp, marketing campaigns on Meta platforms, and personalized engagement solutions on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.

Some customers, such as Britam (East Africa’s largest insurance company), Decathlon (a Global sporting goods retailer), Dovey Pharma (a pharmacy chain in Kenya), Kicks Kenya (Kenya’s online sneakers brand), TSHEPO (a South African luxury lifestyle clothing brand), Galxboy (a streetwear brand in South Africa), and Phoneplace (an online electronics reseller in Kenya), are already benefiting from Chpter’s platform.

Main Image: (From Left) Mark Kiarie, Kuria Kevin, Tesh Mbaabu, and Mesongo Sibuti
Image Credit: Chpter