Kenya is yet to fully tap into the potential of social commerce, despite its rapid rise among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). However, a Kenyan startup, Chpter, is changing the game by automating conversations, marketing, and payments on WhatsApp and Instagram, allowing customers to shop within their social media experience and turning engagement into transactions.

Chpter, co-founded by Tesh Mbaabu, who also co-founded the YC-backed B2B e-commerce platform Marketforce, doesn't sell products directly. Instead, it provides the technology that allows other businesses to sell through platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram. This means that Chpter operates in the background, acting as a bridge between businesses and customers by handling tasks like order processing, payments, and customer interactions without being a marketplace itself.

In Africa, e-commerce is estimated to grow to over 500 million shoppers by 2025. Social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok have evolved into online shopping havens where a lot of buying and selling is happening. Chpter enables businesses to convert social media from just a marketing channel to a fully-fledged sales channel, giving them technology to send WhatsApp marketing campaigns, collect orders, and even payments seamlessly within these social media platforms.

With mobile penetration exceeding 130% in Kenya and social media usage averaging over three hours daily, the potential for social commerce is huge. The ability to convert social engagement into sales is no longer just an idea but an active, growing market. After raising $1.2 million in pre-seed funding in September, Chpter has been growing its tech stack to offer enhanced products and plans to expand beyond Kenya, with markets like Egypt and Nigeria in its sights.

Chpter's investors see a big untapped opportunity in Kenya's social commerce landscape. The startup's $1.2 million pre-seed round was led by Pani, an Africa-focused investment firm co-founded by former Cellulant CEO Ken Njoroge. Other investors include Plesion Capital, Techstars, Norrsken, Renew Capital, ViKtoria Ventures, and angel investors like Nala CEO Benjamin Fernandes and Workpay co-founders Paul Kimani and Jackson Kibigo.

Before this, Chpter joined the Norrsken Accelerator in 2023 and Safaricom's Spark Accelerator in May 2024. Norrsken's investment remains undisclosed. Safaricom provided three months of training and mentorship through the Spark Accelerator to help Chpter scale.

Venture-backed startups like Chpter often prioritize user acquisition and market expansion before profitability. The goal is to establish a strong user base, refine the product, and capture a significant market share before shifting focus to monetization. When asked about plans to raise after the pre-seed round, Mbaabu said, "Yes indeed, but we are prioritizing profitability before we raise the next round of growth capital."

Chpter operates on a hybrid revenue model combining subscription fees, transactional charges, and partnerships. Businesses using Chpter's platform pay a monthly Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) fee based on their size: $50 for small businesses, $120 for medium-sized ones, and $550 for enterprises. Beyond subscriptions, Chpter earns from each customer interaction processed by its AI-powered sales and support agents, meaning businesses pay per conversation handled.

Chpter is also a Meta Business Partner, meaning it facilitates outbound WhatsApp messaging for marketing and operational use. This way, it generates revenue from businesses that send messages to customers through the platform. For now, Chpter is positioning itself as the infrastructure behind social commerce, but its long-term play will depend on how businesses adopt and scale with its tools. With WhatsApp and Instagram increasingly doubling as storefronts, the question is not whether social commerce will grow but who will control the rails that power it.