Manychat Raises $140M to Integrate AI into Messaging Platform

The Expanding Role of AI-Powered Messaging Platforms

While numerous chatbots and AI agents are currently available, their utility varies significantly for both businesses and individual users. Some platforms offer considerably more value and a less problematic user experience than others.

Manychat Secures $140 Million in Series B Funding

Manychat, a startup specializing in conversation management and automation across various messaging channels, has announced a substantial $140 million Series B funding round. This investment is being led by Summit Partners and will fuel the company’s expansion efforts.

Significant Growth and a Diverse Customer Base

The funding follows a period of robust growth for Manychat. Currently, the platform supports approximately 1.5 million customers in 170 countries worldwide.

Its clientele includes prominent organizations such as Nike, the New York Times, and Yahoo, alongside individual content creators and smaller businesses.

Billions of Messages Processed Annually

According to Mike Yan, CEO and co-founder of Manychat, the platform facilitates the transmission of “billions” of messages each year. These messages are delivered through platforms like TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

The newly acquired capital will be allocated to both research and development – with a particular focus on integrating more AI capabilities – and to strengthening the company’s global sales, marketing, and customer support operations.

A Path to Profitability

Notably, Manychat operates with a largely profitable business model. Yan states the company consistently maintains a near break-even financial status.

Funding History and Valuation

Prior to this Series B round, Manychat had raised approximately $23 million, primarily through an $18 million Series A round in 2019.

The company has not disclosed the identities of other investors participating in this funding round, nor has it revealed its current valuation. However, it is anticipated to be significantly higher than the $58 million post-money valuation reported by PitchBook for the Series A round.

Key Takeaways

• Manychat is a leading platform for automating messaging interactions.
• The Series B funding will accelerate AI development and global expansion.
• The company demonstrates a strong growth trajectory and financial stability.

The Evolution of Manychat: From Telegram to Instagram

The development of Manychat closely parallels the increasing prevalence of smartphone messaging applications over the past decade, alongside the expanding possibilities for tools that empower businesses to effectively utilize this communication channel.

By 2015, traditional email inboxes were becoming increasingly saturated with spam and were perceived as an outdated and overused marketing medium by many businesses.

Having recently experienced a setback with a previous social application, Yan, a frequent Telegram user himself, recognized an opportunity when Telegram released its APIs. This sparked an idea for him and his co-founder, Anton Gorin.

He remembers that Telegram was among the first Western messaging apps to make its APIs publicly available. As active Telegram users, they identified a distinct need within the market. Businesses were still relying on email for customer communication, but user attention was shifting. “The focus should be on utilizing messaging apps to connect with customers, as this represents the new frontier of communication and where the modern consumer resides.”

Consequently, Yan and Gorin developed the initial version of Manychat as a platform for creating chat experiences for businesses on Telegram. This early iteration gained enough momentum to secure their acceptance into the 500 Startups accelerator program.

Growth accelerated significantly when Facebook opened its APIs for Messenger. By the time Manychat secured its Series A funding in 2019, it was already reaching 350 million users monthly on the platform, processing billions of messages and boasting an impressive 80% open rate.

The expansion of APIs across other platforms owned by Meta, as well as TikTok, has further fueled this growth. While Telegram remains a supported platform, Yan notes that it now accounts for a relatively small portion of their overall traffic. Currently, Instagram represents the most active and engaged platform for the company.

Manychat’s establishment and substantial growth occurred before the widespread adoption of generative AI and the emergence of AI chatbots such as Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google’s Gemini. Previously, Manychat was described as offering a “smart combination of automation and personalized communication,” enabling users to build chatbots—through a no-code interface—to increase social media followers, gather email addresses, respond to comments, and initiate conversations via direct messages to request product details or further information.

Yan emphasizes that the company’s focus on driving further user actions is a key differentiator compared to many chatbots currently available, including those powered by generative AI.

Sophia Popova, a partner at Summit who led the investment and will be joining the startup’s board, believes that Manychat’s approach of creating an engagement layer positions it favorably for the next phase of development on messaging platforms.

“Our investment strategy is based on the expectation that a larger share of commerce will occur through social messaging apps,” she explained. “Consistent and engaging 24/7 availability is crucial, as that’s what customers now expect, and Manychat is effectively meeting this demand.” She contrasts this with many AI chatbots, noting that “few are designed to personalize conversations in a way that directly leads to revenue generation.”

While numerous tools are available for help desk chatbots, very few are as effective as Manychat at engaging users to make purchases or elicit other desired responses, she added.

However, given the rapid pace of innovation—and the financial pressures on AI startups to generate revenue—this distinction may not persist for long. This is why Manychat is actively integrating more AI features to enhance its capabilities.