SleekFlow, a Singapore- and Hong Kong-headquartered social commerce platform that has constructed a conversational AI suite for buyer engagement focused to Asian markets, stated Wednesday it had secured an additional $7 million in funding. The cash will likely be used to proceed growing its AI, in addition to penetrate deeper into Southeast Asia and the Center East, and make inroads into Europe.
The startup’s fundraise and plans for development underscore the fast rise of social commerce — the place sellers leverage platforms like Fb, Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and YouTube to market their items and discover new clients, and customers use the identical social media platforms to find and purchase issues.
Social commerce is at the moment rising sooner than typical e-commerce. The estimated market worth of social commerce within the Asia Pacific area alone is predicted to exceed $894 million by 2028, representing a ten.6% development from 2022.
Inside that, conversational AI is a giant a part of how social commerce has developed. Utilizing AI-based chat performance means sellers can scale their customer support to work with plenty of customers whereas nonetheless maintaining their very own operations lean. It additionally provides a programmatic layer to the method, with analytics giving them extra perception into what works, and what doesn’t, and when and to whom, and to automate totally different sorts of responses to totally different audiences accordingly.
The conversational AI business is projected to succeed in $49.9 billion by 2030, up 24.9% from $13.2 billion in 2024.
Given the scaling crucial of not simply social commerce however e-commerce general, it’s maybe unsurprising to listen to that the conversational AI house is a crowded one. SleekFlow’s opponents embody Messagebird, Reply.io, Gupshup, Omnichat, Trengo, WATI, Unifonic and Verloop.
Henson Tsai, the founder and CEO of SleekFlow, says that the startup units itself aside from these and different rivals by the use of extra streamlined options. These options embody omnichannel capabilities (that’s, advertising to a couple of platform and interface from a single dashboard), advertising automation, and a user-friendly circulation builder that permits flexibility in creating distinctive chat experiences for every buyer. Instantaneous checkout capabilities embody in-chat fee hyperlinks, collaborative staff options, built-in CRM platform integrations with HubSpot and SalesForce, and e-commerce performance.
The plan is to develop its platform “with choices underway for totally automated gross sales and help journeys in voice, calls and e mail to ship unparalleled worth to our clients throughout,” Tsai instructed TechCrunch.
The startup additionally not too long ago appointed a brand new CTO, Gao Lei, an AI and large knowledge veteran with greater than 20 years of tech management in Silicon Valley.
“For the reason that appointment of our chief know-how officer, Gao Lei, a Silicon Valley veteran, now we have considerably elevated our engineering efforts to be on the forefront of revolutionary tech and superior AI,” Tsai stated.
SleekFlow is constructed on a multi-tier SaaS enterprise mannequin with an non-compulsory add-on for purchasers who wish to additionally arrange and run a WhatsApp Enterprise messaging channel. The startup courts gross sales and advertising groups and is utilized by firms starting from small groups to massive companies throughout the insurance coverage, healthcare, telecom, and retail sectors. Hong Kong Broadband Networks (HKBN), Delonghi, on-line furnishings firm Cellini, and Malaysia’s residence shopper electrical equipment maker Khind are amongst its clients.
SleekFlow is operational at the moment in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates. Of these, Tsai stated that shopper conduct particularly in Indonesia — which is projected to turn out to be one of many largest shopper markets by 2030 — has been quickly shifting in direction of on-line procuring over conventional brick-and-mortar shops. Excessive spending energy in Saudi Arabia and the UAE means these areas are additionally more likely to be key markets for social commerce, Tsai added.
Atinum Funding, a Seoul-based VC agency, led this newest funding spherical, with present backers AEF Better Bay Space Fund and Transcend Capital Companions additionally taking part, alongside Moses Tsang, a former common accomplice of Goldman Sachs Group and Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia LLC. Beforehand, SleekFlow raised a $8 million Collection A led by Tiger International.
The corporate declined to touch upon its valuation, however along with having raised $15 million so far, another monetary metrics to notice are that its annual recurring income (ARR) has elevated to $8-9 million as of June 2024 from round $1-2 million in December 2022. Its employees has additionally grown to 160 from 60, and clients have elevated by greater than 5,000 globally, Tsai instructed TechCrunch.