Kenyan software startup Chpter has entered 11 new African markets through a strategic partnership with fintech giant Flutterwave, significantly widening access to its WhatsApp-based commerce tools for merchants across the continent.
The expansion brings Chpter’s reach to 14 African countries, adding Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Malawi, and Zambia to its existing presence in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Under the deal, Flutterwave will handle payment processing and settlement behind the scenes, enabling Chpter merchants to accept mobile money, card, and bank transfer payments in both local currencies and U.S. dollars. The move is expected to boost adoption among small and medium-sized businesses eager to formalise social commerce sales and streamline customer interactions.
“We have been onboarding dozens of new businesses every week, and many of them are coming from markets like Senegal and Tanzania, without us even running outreach campaigns there,” said Chpter CEO Mark Kiarie. “This partnership means these businesses can now go live on Chpter and start accepting payments directly via WhatsApp and Instagram.”
The expansion coincides with Chpter’s broader shift toward becoming an “AI-first” platform. The company has introduced artificial intelligence agents for sales and customer service and restructured its internal teams to support further development. Chpter reports that about 45% of customer interactions are already handled by AI, with plans to increase that figure to over 80% as adoption and capability grow.
Chpter’s flagship offering allows merchants to manage orders, run marketing campaigns, accept payments, and automate messages across WhatsApp and Instagram, all from a single dashboard. As a Meta Business Partner, Chpter also supports product catalogues for in-chat checkout, conversation consolidation, and audience-targeting tools. According to the company, WhatsApp and Instagram now drive 60% of inbound traffic for merchants on its platform.
Earlier this year, Chpter launched Pluto, a WhatsApp API suite aimed at developers and businesses looking to build full customer journeys within the messaging app. The suite adds another layer to its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, which Chpter is positioning as viable at scale across Africa, so long as pricing and product design are tailored to local market realities.
“To give you a sense of the momentum, it took us 14 months to acquire our first 1,000 merchants. This year alone, we’ve acquired 1,500 more in under four months,” said co-founder and president Tesh Mbaabu. He declined to disclose Chpter’s total merchant base.
Chpter raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding in September 2024. The round was led by Pani, the investment firm co-founded by former Cellulant CEO Ken Njoroge, with participation from Techstars, Norrsken, Renew Capital, and other angel investors. The startup has also passed through accelerator programmes by Norrsken and Safaricom.
Operating on a subscription model, Chpter charges merchants between $50 and $550 monthly depending on business size. It also generates revenue through paid messaging and AI-driven customer interactions on Meta platforms.
As Chpter scales its AI-first commerce tools across the continent, its partnership with Flutterwave marks a pivotal step in bridging digital payments and social selling in Africa’s fast-growing informal economy.
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