TextYess, a platform for e-commerce sales via WhatsApp, has raised funding to help brands automate sales, manage orders, and engage customers.

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Milan-based TextYess, an AI-powered platform that enables e-commerce brands to sell directly via WhatsApp, has raised €2.4M in a Seed funding round.

The round was co-led by VC Partners, an Italian fund founded by Stefano Siglienti, Roberta Vercellotti, and Alberto Grignolo, and Entourage, a Belgian B2B SaaS-focused fund founded by Pieterjan Bouten (founder of Showpad).

VC Partners’ three partners previously led the growth of YNAP, and Entourage has backed multiple global B2B startups, aligning with TextYess’s go-to-market plans.

Riccardo Russo, co-founder and CEO of TextYess, says, “We’re honoured to have the support of investors who deeply understand both the e-commerce and SaaS ecosystems. Together, we aim to shape the future of shopping – where Gen Z and Millennials leave traditional websites behind and shop directly through social and messaging platforms.”

Other participants in this round included Angel Invest Ventures and a group of business angels including, Filippo Conforti (CEO, Commerce Layer), David Clarke (former CTO, Workday), Gianluca Cocco (Founder, Qomodo), Mattia Montepara (CEO, Sibill), Michele Attisani (Founder, FaceIT), Federico Sargenti (ex-CEO, Everli), Luca Rodella (CEO, Smartpricing), Paolo Fois (CEO, Lexroom), Marco Castello (General Manager, Bending Spoons), and Gabriele Tagliavia (COO, Talixo).

AI-powered tools to drive sales & more

TextYess is a platform that enables e-commerce brands to sell directly via WhatsApp by automating personalised sales conversations.

The platform integrates with an e-commerce brand’s technology stack to analyse behavioural data, including purchases, browsing history, and cart activity. It uses this data to generate AI-written messages for each customer.

Co-founder Russo mentions, “Most e-commerce teams are still managing everything manually, with small teams and limited tools. Our goal is to empower these teams to perform better by automating repetitive tasks and letting humans focus on what matters most.”

TextYess offers three main use cases:

  • AI Broadcast Campaigns: sends promotional messages personalised for each customer based on their past activity.
  • Advanced Automation Flows: recovers abandoned carts, reactivates inactive customers, and launches new products to specific customer segments.
  • 24/7 AI Shopping Assistant: a conversational assistant trained on the brand’s catalogue that manages orders, answers questions, and provides real-time support.

According to the company, brands using TextYess generate an average of €30 in revenue for every €1 invested. To date, the platform has onboarded over 160 e-commerce brands across the fashion, beauty, food, and pet industries and surpassed €1M in ARR just 18 months after launch.

TextYess was launched in January 2024 by Riccardo Russo (former Growth Manager at Y Combinator-backed Blink) and Edvaldo Gjonikaj (former Senior Software Engineer at GrowishPay). Later, Ilaria Carofiglio (ex-Charles) and Pietro di Chio (ex-Talent Garden, Scalapay) joined the team. 

The company’s long-term plan is to build a full suite of AI agents to automate the management of an e-commerce store.

Capital utilisation

TextYess will use the funds for international expansion, development of the AI agent suite, and growth of its commercial team.

Co-founder Russo says, “This funding gives us the momentum to scale rapidly and expand into new markets. But more importantly, it validates our vision to become the European leader in conversational commerce – one conversation at a time.”