Chpter is a Kenyan e-commerce startup launched by Tesh Mbaabu, Mesongo Sibuti, Kuria Kevin, and Mark Kiarie. Initially started by Kiarie (COO) and Kevin (CPO) in 2021, the two partnered with Sibuti (CTO) and Mbaabu (CEO) — co-founders of MarketForce — to build the AI-powered conversational commerce platform in 2022.
The company helps businesses convert social media from a marketing channel to a sales platform with chat, order, and payment tools. The company makes money by charging monthly subscriptions and earns a transaction fee for payments processed on its platform.
Chpter, which currently operates in Kenya and South Africa, has clients like insurer Britam, shoe store Kicks Kenya, and e-commerce platform Phoneplace.
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“We are investing in our tech stack to offer an end-to-end product, connecting the APIs from social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram with popular e-commerce and customer relationship management systems like Shopify and Woocommerce,” Mbaabu, Chpter’s co-founder and CEO, told TechCabal.
Chpter recently raised $1.2 million in a pre-seed round. It will use the money to improve its technology stack and expand into Egypt and Nigeria. The founding round was led by Pani, an Africa-focused investment firm co-founded by Cellulant’s former CEO, Ken Njoroge.
As per Tech Cabal, other participants include Plesion Capital, Techstars, Norrsken, Renew Capital, and ViKtoria Ventures, and angel investors, including Nala founder and CEO Benjamin Fernandes and Workpay co-founders Paul Kimani and Jackson Kibigo.
Chpter operates independently of Marketforce although some of its investors had previously invested in Marketforce.
“Chpter was and is not under the MarketForce umbrella. It is going to continue operating independently. However, MF is a shareholder in it,” Mbaabu told TechCabal in May 2024.
TechCabal noted that Chpter’s acceptance into the Norrsken Accelerator in 2023 and the Safaricom Spark Accelerator in May 2024 may have positioned it as a key startup in conversational commerce.
Africa’s eCommerce industry is projected to reach $75 billion by 2025. As more people turn to online shopping, researchers believe that social commerce will play a huge role in the $75 billion growth of the continent’s eCommerce sector.
Three months ago, Chpter became an official Meta Business partner to allow it to offer advanced Meta features globally.
