WATI.io secures $8.3 million as revenues grow five times in six months
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December 8, 2021
WATI.io co-founders Bianca Ho (L) and Ken Yeung
WATI.io (WhatsApp Team Inbox), a comprehensive WhatsApp customer engagement tool for small businesses, has raised $8.3Mn in Series A led by Sequoia Capital India with participation from Surge, Base Partners and several prominent angels, including Gokul Rajaram, a member of the DoorDash executive team.
WATI.io has over 3,000 customers across 54 countries, including India, Indonesia and Brazil. Over the last six months, WATI’s customer base has seen a 4x growth, revenue has grown 5x and 100 million messages have been processed. They are now a 41 member team across seven countries.
With this fundraise, they have raised a total of $10 million in the last six months. The funds raised will be used to bolster technology and product development by expanding product integrations. It will also be used to double the team size and improve their presence in Latin America.
WATI.io was launched by Ken Yeung and Bianca Ho in late 2020. Built on WhatsApp’s API, it helps small businesses personalise conversations with customers at scale. WATI.io also helps customer support, marketing and sales teams engage with customers using a single WhatsApp number.
Ken Yeung, CEO WATI.io, comments: “WATI’s mission is to help businesses do more with less. Our one-click integration with the most commonly used tools like Shopify, WooCommerce, etc. enables businesses to provide holistic customer experience at scale. We look to use this funding to attract world-class talent to help us build this.”
Abheek Anand, MD, Sequoia India, comments: “WATI is on a mission to help hundreds of millions of SMBs across the world communicate more effectively with their customers on one of the most ubiquitous messaging platforms – WhatsApp.
“They’ve achieved terrific growth rates this past year while breaking even, but what is more exciting is the expansive set of product possibilities in front of the company as they capitalise on the market opportunity. Sequoia Capital India is excited to deepen the partnership with Ken and Bianca in the next stage of their journey of building WATI.”
