A seed round co-led by Info Edge Ventures and Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India has raised over US $5 million for ChattyBao, an Indian commerce platform built on WhatsApp.
Other angel investors and 7Square Ventures took part in the round.
Earlier this year, former Paytm executives Kumar Aditya and Varun Gupta started ChattyBao. The site intends to provide consumers with a comprehensive shopping experience on WhatsApp where they can look up, communicate with, and purchase from local vendors.
The firm claimed to be encouraging local companies’ entrepreneurial spirit and giving them the tools they need to compete with the big e-commerce players in the nation.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp released a series of new capabilities for merchant partners to help them reduce expenses and better manage their business accounts to bolster its social commerce drive. The messaging application also intends to make its digital payments service, which is presently offered in India, Brazil, and the US, available in more international locations.
Since SMEs are the backbones of the retail industry in India, “ChattyBao can strengthen their value proposition further and become a catalyst in enabling more customers to come online and transact with the same comfort they already experience in WhatsApp conversations,” said Kanika Mayar, partner at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.
