Kul Bhushan · · 1 min readSequoia leads $8.3m round of WhatsApp-based customer engagement startup
WATI, a WhatsApp-based customer and sales engagement startup, has raised US$8.3 million in series A round led by Sequoia Capital India. Base Partners, Sequoia’s accelerator Surge, and angel investors including Gokul Rajaram, a board member of Coinbase and Pinterest, also joined the fundraise.
Photo credit: WATI
WATI – short for WhatsApp Team Inbox – was established by tech executive Ken Yeung and former JP Morgan analyst Bianca Ho in late 2020. The Hong Kong-headquartered startup enables businesses to set up scalable and personalized conversations on the WhatsApp business API.
Since its inception, WATI has onboarded more than 3,000 customers across 54 countries, including Indonesia, Brazil, and India. The startup, which was part of Surge’s fifth cohort, has raised US$10 million in total funding in the last six months.
The company says that during the same period, its customer base increased 4x while revenue grew by 5x.
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WATI plans to use the fresh capital to improve its technology and boost product development. The company is also looking to double its current 41-strong team and deepen its presence in Latin America.
Editing by Collin Furtado and Eileen C. Ang
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