The round was led by Ken Njoroge, co-founder and former CEO of Cellulant, through his investment firm PANI, with additional participation from investors such as Plesion Capital, Techstars, Norrsken, Renew Capital, and ViKtoria Ventures. 

Angel investors included Benjamin Fernandes, founder and CEO of NALA, and the co-founders of Workpay, Paul Kimani and Jackson Kibigo.

Founded in 2022 by Tesh Mbaabu, Mesongo Sibuti, Kuria Kevin, and Mark Kiarie, Chpter aims to improve the way businesses engage with customers on social media platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram. 

The platform enables merchants to simplify their sales processes by integrating chat, order management, and payment systems, thereby converting social media from a mere marketing tool into a fully functional sales channel.

The funds raised will be utilised to accelerate product development, expand the platform’s availability across more countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and enhance sales and marketing efforts to meet the growing demand from businesses. 

Chpter’s platform is already operational in Kenya and South Africa, serving a variety of clients including Britam, Kicks Kenya, and Phoneplace.

Social commerce has gained high traction in Africa, with an increasing number of transactions being conducted via social media. This trend is driven by the accessibility and ease of use of these platforms, particularly in emerging markets where digital literacy and data costs can be barriers to traditional e-commerce. 

However, many businesses face challenges in managing customer interactions and converting them into sales, leading to revenue losses due to abandoned carts and inefficient order fulfilment processes.

Chpter addresses these issues by offering an AI-powered platform that automates customer interactions and integrates with popular e-commerce and customer relationship management systems such as Shopify and Woocommerce. 

This improves the efficiency of sales processes and also enhances the overall customer experience by providing personalised engagement across multiple social media platforms.

The startup’s innovative approach and prospect for pan-African success have attracted attention from investors. The participation of firms like PANI and Plesion Capital, as well as the endorsement from well-regarded angel investors, is a result of a strong vote of confidence in Chpter’s business model and leadership team.

In addition to the funding, Chpter has been recognised by several accelerator programs, including the Norrsken Accelerator and the Safaricom Spark Accelerator, which further validates its works in the growing field of conversational commerce.

Chpter further plans to expand its operations into five more markets, including Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, and Morocco, as it continues to pursue its vision of improving social commerce across the African continent.

The Kenya-based digital retail B2B and end-to-end distribution platform, MarketForce, laid off a number of its staff in July and this development was noted to be a part of a reorganisation strategy in Kenya, one of its five markets which include Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

Per TechCrunch, 54 from its 600 staff were laid off, meaning 9% of its workforce was subtracted from its team and these were in departments such as field sales, supply chain and customer experience departments.

“We were at the phase where we were focused on growth, but we’ve gotten to a point where we’re optimizing towards profitability,” said Tesh Mbaabu, CEO of Marketforce.

Despite the relevance of these relieved positions in the past, they are no longer indispensable to the company as it focuses on driving more revenue per merchant.

Via an email sent by the CEO to employees, he said the company’s decision was due to the global economic uncertainties and MarketForce wants to optimise the business for different growth metrics.

“Some roles in the Kenya market will become redundant, and new ones will emerge; all our other markets will not be impacted,” he said. 

Marketforce plans to support affected employees in the following ways: 

• Offer them counseling services on navigating change and managing anxiety during uncertain times
• Offer a training session on revamping their CV, optimising their LinkedIn profile and interview preparation techniques
• Partner with recruiters who will consider them for opportunities within other organisations that are looking to hire
• Offer a certificate of service and letter of recommendation as appropriate
• Pay them in lieu of notice in addition to a severance package of 15 days for every completed year of service and unutilised leave days