MULTI-CHANNEL commerce platform ChatGenie is looking to expand its reach after shoring up additional capital in a recent fund-raising campaign.

Singapore-based early-stage venture capital fund Accelerating Asia, which led the investment round, picked nine startups in Asia, including the Philippines’ ChatGenie, “for its first batch of investments from its $20-million Fund II,” the company said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.

“The funding… will enable ChatGenie to expand its reach in distributing its product to as many merchants as possible,” it noted.

More than 2,500 merchants have used the company’s online payment and automated delivery services. The transactions were done on Messenger, GCash and Viber using ChatGenie. It has also partnered with PayMaya and PayMongo.

“A total of P150-million worth of transactions have been done via the store platform,” the company said.

With the investment, the company also intends to grow its team to serve more clients and scale up its services.

It recently launched a “booster program” for micro, small and medium enterprises to provide them with up to six months of free online store on Messenger, Instagram, Viber, and GCash, among others.

The company is hoping to team up with more brands next year, especially those that thrive online.

“With retailers across Asia digitizing at the fastest rate in history, ChatGenie’s platform provides an easy on ramp to potentially millions of businesses to more easily interact with a larger customer base more efficiently,” Accelerating Asia General Partner Craig Bristol Dixon said. — Arjay L. Balinbin

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