Conversational commerce is an innovation introduced to Europe by the German startup Charles (commerce). As part of its plans to leverage the potential of chat applications in the commercial arena, the Berlin-based startup recently secured €19.5 million (USD 20 million) for its platform.
Salesforce Ventures took the lead in this Series A investment. Accel and HV Capital headed the company’s seed round in 2021, and they both took part in this round.
This new funding has significantly boosted the company’s goal of becoming the top conversational commerce platform for brands and businesses across Europe. Many brands have already expressed interest in embracing the conversational commerce trend, showing that it has already gained traction. The money will be used to pursue larger enterprise clients and to extend operations out of Germany into important European markets.
What the founder has to say:
Artjem Weissbeck, co-founder and co-CEO at Charles:
“Since the beginning, our goal has been to personalize business by integrating it into our most primal human behavior: conversations. By integrating sales, marketing, and customer service into one ongoing dialogue, rich messaging apps like WhatsApp have been shown to facilitate this throughout Latin America and Asia. Because web shops and email were compelled to become married, eCommerce has failed to do this. There has never been a better method for marketers to impress their customers than with the conversational commerce trend currently taking over Europe.
What the investors have to say:
Nowi Kallen, Managing Director at Salesforce Ventures:
“Charles truly creates categories. To increase consumer engagement, boost sales, and reduce customer acquisition expenses, Artjem and Andreas aim to improve both consumer and business outcomes. Customers adore Charles’ capabilities and customer service, so we are beyond thrilled to work with the Charles team.”
More about the startup:
Charles, a company founded in 2020 by Andreas Tussing and Artjem Weissbeck, helps businesses to use chat apps to offer conversational marketing and commerce experiences. In essence, the conversational-first operating system integrates the entire e-commerce process into apps like WhatsApp, fostering deeper ties between customers and businesses.
Businesses can use the platform to sell goods, distribute newsletters, and provide chat support for clients, all of which help to personalize the customer experience. It functions by syncing the APIs of messaging applications like WhatsApp with platforms like Salesforce and Shopify.
The platform, founded in Berlin, has already noted positive signals for the future. The platform has also been driving 10 to 40 percent of its purchases via chat, and several of its 100+ customers have already reached 7-digit WhatsApp revenues in 2022, according to the team. Additionally, clients have reported that WhatsApp newsletters have eight times higher income per recipient than email newsletters and over 90% higher opening rates.
These numbers demonstrate a substantial market potential in these uncertain economic times, and Charles has been developing a fresh, quickly expanding revenue stream.
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