Kenyan social commerce startup ‘Chpter’ has spun off Pluto, its WhatsApp API suite, into a standalone subsidiary, marking a strategic shift as businesses increasingly rely on messaging apps for sales and customer engagement.
Pluto aims to streamline how businesses interact with customers on WhatsApp by enabling companies to automate customer support, facilitate payments, and drive transactions.Pluto’s goal is to simplify the customer-seller interaction by allowing transactions to be completed entirely within WhatsApp, saving the time needed to leap across apps.Pluto will operate under a hybrid revenue model, offering monthly software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscriptions ranging from US$50 to US$550.
“Our mission is to empower businesses – from the student startup to the multi-billion dollar enterprise – with the tools to build smart, automated, and human-like interactions on WhatsApp,” said Co-founder & CEO of Pluto, Andew Bosson.
The new entity will also generate revenue from per-interaction fees for sales, customer support, and marketing messages sent via WhatsApp
Bosson, tasked with propelling the spin-off to success, is a former chief growth officer at Chpter. The platform’s automation tools are catered to a diverse range of industries from banking, retail, to government services.
Pluto will be headquartered in Nairobi ‘with a focus to localise its services to African consumers and businesses.’ According to an announcement by Chpter, early adopters include NCBA Bank, Britam, and Safarilink.
Chpter was founded in 2022 by Tesh Mbaabu, Mesongo Sibuti, Kuria Kevin and Mark Kiarie. Last year, it raised US$1.2 million in a pre-seed round from investors; funds that will be used to iterate its tech platform and venture into other markets like Egypt and Nigeria.