The news:
- Termii, a Nigerian customer engagement startup has raised $3.65 million.
- The round was led by Ventures Platform with participation from other investors such as Ralicap Ventures.
- Termii plans to use the funding to expand into Francophone Africa and expand its product offerings
In the US alone, $62 billion is lost each year due to poor customer service. This could be because 91% of customers will stop using a business if the customer service is below their expectations.
These figures are perhaps why some of the largest brands in the world prioritise the customer experience.
Apple's Steve Jobs said; “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology – not the other way around.”
Jeff Bezos who built a $1.7 trillion company — Amazon — wasn't short on customer obsession quotes. “If there’s one reason we have done better than any of our peers in the Internet space over the last six years, it is because we have focused like a laser on customer experience.”
To help African startups offer top-tier customer experience, Termii, a customer engagement platform, has closed a $3.65 million funding round led by Ventures Platform.
Other investors in the round include FinTech Collective, Launch Africa Ventures, Nama Ventures, Aidi Ventures, Ralicap Ventures, Now Venture Partners, and Vastly Valuable Ventures. The round also had the participation of angel investors such as Aubrey Hruby (Tofino Capital), and Eamon Jubbawy (Onifido).
On a call with Techpoint Africa, Emmanuel Gbolade, Termii CEO and Co-founder described Termii simply as a platform that allowed businesses to communicate with their customers effectively via email, SMS, or even WhatsApp.
On a broader level, however, "it is beyond just sending messages in bulk messages," he said. Termii is a platform that helps companies like Kuda send alerts. It helps other businesses authenticate user identities and transactions with one-time passwords (OTP).
Gbolade founded the company alongside Ayomide Awe (CTO) and Idowu Atinuke (COO).
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With over 10,000 businesses trusting Termii for their customer engagement needs, the startup has completed over 400 million message transactions.
Some notable companies using Termii's services include Paystack, PiggyVest, and Moniepoint.
While 89% of the company's customer base is financial businesses, Gbolade noted that Termii's services come in handy for businesses in other industries. From logistics to health tech, he explained that efficient communication with customers is something many businesses need.
Termii makes money by billing per messages sent to customers. On the company website, its pricing ranges from $0.0002 to $0.0061.
With this new funding, the Nigerian startup plans to expand into new markets within Africa and with a special focus on Francophone Africa.
The Y Combinator-backed startup will also be expanding its product offerings with TermiGo, which Gbolade describes as the future of Termii.
TermiGo is a mobile app with an authenticator feature that also allows companies to reach out to their companies directly through the app.
Unlike Google Authenticator which is only used for time-based OTP, Gbolade said allowing businesses to communicate with their users through the platform is a world's first.
The company has already increased its revenue by 3000% since its last funding in 2021, and with this new funding, it must just be able to fulfil its mission to revolutionise customer engagement on the continent.
Image source: Supplied
