Businesses are too familiar with the importance of concentrating all of their email communications into one platform. Yet, with so many different messaging services available, it is not usually possible to combine everything into one universal inbox.
$15.6 million funding
The Superchat team appears to have the solution. After raising $15.6 million for their all-in-one messaging platform, the German startup is on the way to becoming the main operating system for SMEs.
Upon its completion, the platform will not only be the perfect tool for viewing all business communications from WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Google Business, SMS, webchat, Telegram, and email in one place, but it will also have options for invoicing, payments, and for customers to leave reviews.
During the Series A round led by Blossom Capital, and including the participation of 468 Capital, the platform was able to raise $15.6 million, bringing its total raised investment to $18.8 million in just under a year.
This comes as no surprise, as big industry leaders can view the potential of this startup and how their platform can provide companies with insight about their customer communications and the ability to interact with consumers directly. With communications being such an important part of boosting sales, encouraging loyalty, and ultimately increasing revenues, it makes sense for companies to want to streamline their customer engagement and support processes as much as possible.
Main operating system for SMEs
This startup is a direct solution to a problem that Superchat founder, Yilmaz Köknar, experienced first-hand as he was often trying to come in contact with companies but was unable to do so. This made him realise that SMEs especially were unable to handle the multiple channels of communication that were coming their way effectively.
Superchat’s founders Yilmaz Köknar and Mika Hally, and their team found an easy solution that could help integrate all those channels into one inbox, making it easier to handle all communications in that way. Since building and first launching their solution in April, the platform has processed over half a million messages in Germany alone.
With their previous funding, the Superchat team built features and integrations with a wide range of existing CRM and workflow tools. Part of the funding was also used to grow their team and to help them expand to new industries and countries.
The future of customer service?
In many ways, Superchat is the future of customer service. More and more customers are using diverse methods to contact the companies they are purchasing from. With different platforms and messaging apps available, the potential for companies to target different customers is incredible. But, getting a team that can handle responding through so many unique channels can be challenging, especially as response times seem to be getting faster and faster.
Superchat founder considers this to be a part of the change in customer behaviour. In his statement, he said “This is because today’s customers want and expect to be able to contact businesses wherever, and whenever suits them. Some want to email, others prefer text, many rely on social media or web chats to connect directly. This can prove to be a logistical nightmare for the companies and results in poor experiences for the customers. No one wins within the current status quo, but with Superchat, everyone does.”
Superchat’s attempt to disrupt the status quo, which wants small and medium-sized businesses overwhelmed by all of their different communication channels. Instead, they offer a simple solution that allows managers to assign tasks to their teams and streamline the handling of conversations and cases. Team members can also leave internal notes and labels to conversations improving in this way both the support that customers are receiving as well as the company’s workflow.
Other features of Superchat include the ability to view reviews, handle payments and invoices and even use campaigns. These campaigns often include WhatsApp campaigns, which are similar to a newsletter and can be used for marketing purposes.
With so much potential and features, it is no wonder that Superchat attracted the attention of Blossom Capital whose managing partner Alex Lim said: “Superchat has built a platform that empowers small and medium-sized businesses to leverage the benefits of digital channels and provide the very best service to even the most discerning customers. The founders and the team understand the unique pain points being felt by companies, many of which are still relying on email and phone calls despite the significant shift to digital seen in the wake of the pandemic. The technology has the potential, and the founders have the ambition, to become the leading European player in this space.”
