Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Wednesday, February 23 2022 - 00:07
AsiaNet
Clickatell, a Global Leader in Chat Commerce, Secures $91 Million in Oversubscribed Series C Funding for US Expansion and Product Acceleration
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

-- Clickatell investors now include Arrowroot Capital, Kennedy Lewis Investment 
Management, Sequoia Capital, DAG Ventures, Endeavor Global and Harvest

Clickatell ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3450858-1&h=1702990628&u=https%3A%2F%2Fhubs.la%2FQ014yjLs0&a=Clickatell 
), the CPaaS innovator and Chat Commerce leader, today announces it has secured 
$91 million in their Series C round. This round was led by Arrowroot Capital, 
with participation from Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, Endeavor Global 
and Harvest.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1751387/Clickatell_Executive_Team.jpg 
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1751388/Clickatell.jpg 
Photo - 
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1751389/Clickatell_Pieter_de_Villiers_CEO_and_Co_Founder.jpg 

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1164580/Clickatell_Logo.jpg

Clickatell, which has delivered double-digit profitable growth for several 
years, will use the Series C capital to scale and expand three key areas: (i) 
Accelerated development and innovation of its Chat Commerce offering, (ii) 
Expansion of its footprint in the U.S., and (iii) Scaling of sales and 
marketing efforts on the back of growing demand from leading brands.

Clickatell's platform has been recognized as a global leader in powering mobile 
messaging / CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) and payments within 
chat. Clickatell processed more than 30 billion interactions, and 2 billion 
commerce transactions during the COVID-19 period alone as it enabled 
customer-centric brands to connect, interact and transact with their customers 
wherever they were sheltering in place during the pandemic.

Clickatell boasts an industry-first ability to combine communication and 
commerce in one comprehensive Chat Commerce proposition and introduced one of 
the world's first chat banking solutions on WhatsApp, the world's largest chat 
platform. Today, Clickatell is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the 
intersection between communications (CPaaS, CCaaS) and commerce (digital 
payments) – offering a complete end-to-end Chat Commerce Platform. Clickatell 
serves more than 10,000 customers, many of which are Fortune 500 companies and 
leading global brands such as Coca Cola, Deloitte, GT Bank, Booking.com, 
GoDaddy, IKEA, Novartis, Standard Bank, Tangerine, Telegram, US Foods, Visa, 
Zipcar, Capitec and others. Clickatell's low / no-code, feature-rich Chat 
Commerce orchestration capability includes assisted (chat desk) and unassisted 
(bots) chat and secure payments capability in its recently launched Chat 2 Pay 
offering.

"Chat Commerce is the future of digital commerce and engagement – it's already 
happening at scale in markets such as China -- and soon every consumer in the 
US will engage family and friends via chat plus connect, interact and transact 
with the brands they love through their favorite chat platform; and we are 
excited to be a leader in this digital engagement revolution," said Pieter de 
Villiers, Co-Founder and CEO at Clickatell. "We believe brands want to avoid 
placing their customers on hold and it is becoming increasingly difficult for 
consumers to download their apps; Clickatell's Chat Commerce platform enables 
brands to serve their customers where they are, in the chat platform they 
already use."

With a massive $80+ billion Total Addressable Market (TAM), the Chat Commerce 
market is viewed as the third big wave of digital commerce, following the 
eCommerce and App Commerce markets. Chat is the largest digital platform in the 
world, with 7.7 billion users compared to 4.7 billion internet users, making it 
next to impossible for businesses to operate without communicating and 
transacting with consumers in chat channels. Chat Commerce enables businesses 
to easily facilitate significantly improved customer experiences through chat, 
with the added benefit of being far more efficient for customers and 
operational costs.

"We have a shared vision with Clickatell that brands will need to invest in 
Chat Commerce to transform their customer experience," said Matt J. Safaii, 
Founder and Managing Partner at Arrowroot Capital. "With 93% of conversations 
that transpire on its Chat Commerce Platform ending in a transaction, 
Clickatell is sure to continue to make waves in this growing sector. We're 
delighted to support them on their way to becoming the category-defining, 
global leader in Chat Commerce."

"Clickatell is an inspiring example of how a company from South Africa can pull 
the future forward. Clickatell was the pioneering company that successfully 
first sent messages from the internet to mobile phones, and today they power 
some of the biggest names in communications, like WhatsApp," said Endeavor 
Catalyst Managing Director Allen Taylor. "With this new funding round, we are 
proud to partner with Pieter and the Clickatell team and work with them on 
what's next."

*Gartner(R) has recognized Clickatell as a "Who's Who in CPaaS Payments and How 
They Are Going About It" within their August 27, 2021 "Digital Payments as Part 
of Communications Platform as a Service Offering" report. Gartner stated, 
"Currently there are a limited number of CPaaS providers that provide the 
payment capability." Additionally, the Gartner report predicts "by 2025, around 
50% of CPaaS vendors will enable the functionality as part of their 
communications modules and offerings." Read more ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3450858-1&h=2968992643&u=https%3A%2F%2Fhubs.la%2FQ014yjM20&a=Read+more 
) about how Clickatell is a Representative Vendor in 2021 Gartner Market Guide 
for Communications Platform as a Service.

For more information about Clickatell and the Series C round, visit 
www.clickatell.com. Macquarie Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor and 
placement agent for Clickatell.

*Gartner disclaimer 
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its 
affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner 
does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research 
publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors 
with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications 
consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be 
construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or 
implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of 
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Clickatell  
Clickatell is the global Chat Commerce leader powering businesses to connect, 
interact, and transact with consumers anytime, anywhere in chat. The low / 
no-code, feature-rich Chat Commerce Platform sits at the intersection of 
communications (CPaaS, CCaaS) and commerce (digital payments). Clickatell 
serves over 10,000 customers, many of which are Fortune 500 companies and 
leading global brands activating their own digital commerce transformations. 
Clickatell is headquartered in Silicon Valley, CA, and has offices in Canada, 
South Africa and Nigeria. Learn more at www.clickatell.com.

About Arrowroot Capital 
Arrowroot Capital is a global growth equity firm based in Los Angeles, CA 
focused on minority, majority, and buyout investments in B2B software 
companies. The firm serves as a catalyst for growth-related initiatives by 
partnering with management and leveraging its deep enterprise software 
expertise to deliver meaningful, tangible value. Arrowroot has the flexibility 
to pursue opportunities of varying sizes, as well as a broad range of 
transaction types. Arrowroot also assists in targeting and executing add-on 
acquisitions for its portfolio companies to help drive growth and increased 
market position. Learn more at www.arrowrootcapital.com.

Media Contacts
1.   Clickatell, Andrea Mahoney, andrea.mahoney@clickatell.com, 415-846-1543 
2.   Clickatell, Nadia Louw, nadia.louw@clickatell.com, +27 (21) 910 7700 
  
SOURCE Clickatell