We Just Secured Our $8M Series A Funding Round For Further Expansion And Growth [Update]
This is a follow up story for SleekFlow. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published almost 3 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hello, it's great to be back here! My name is Henson Tsai, and I am the Founder and CEO of SleekFlow, a B2B social commerce solution. We are based in Hong Kong, and I established SleekFlow in 2019 as an omnichannel social messaging platform that helps businesses manage customer conversations.
Our platform is designed to fix a significant inefficiency in both internal and external workflow communications. We noticed that many businesses either rely on a single company phone number or have employees use their phone numbers to keep in contact with clients. That’s why our platform enables multiple logins, allowing for seamless communication with customers.
As the market grew to USD 474B in 2021, we realized the huge potential for social commerce. We decided to integrate a one-click checkout feature to offer a complete social order-to-payment ecosystem on our platform.
By enabling businesses to generate payment links in chat, both e-commerce and offline businesses can connect their customers to a fast, easy, and secure path to purchase.
We have learned to adapt quickly to changes in the market and have continued to push ourselves to achieve our goals.
At SleekFlow, we are constantly innovating and finding new ways to help businesses improve their workflow and connect with their customers. We are passionate about what we do and are excited about the future of social commerce.
If you’re interested in reading about how I Created a $2.4M/Year Social Commerce Messaging Platform, you can check out my first article with Starter Story here.
About SleekFlow’s omnichannel social commerce platform
SleekFlow platform merges major social and messaging services like WhatsApp API, Facebook, Instagram, SMS, live chat, or whatever channel is preferred with e-commerce and CRM tools. In a single, easy-to-use omnichannel platform, marketing, sales, or customer service teams can sell, promote and support their customers better.
Feature highlights of SleekFlow’s all-in-one social commerce solution
As mentioned in my previous article on Starter Story, prioritization is vital in a lean start-up with limited resources. Adopting a customer-centric approach to retail solutions, 80% of SleekFlow’s features are derived from customer feedback. Our customers can submit feature requests to our customer success team and vote for them.
Powerful comment auto-reply on Facebook and Instagram to boost organic social engagement
We built Instagram and Facebook automations to simplify customer interactions in the comments section, as a way for retailers to boost organic engagement and connect with customers on a more personal level. This feature allows businesses to instantly send personalized messages to their customer's direct messages when they leave a comment on the business's social media profile. Instead of spending money on advertisements, businesses can boost organic engagement by interacting with their customers on a personal level.
In-Chat Payment Links for a seamless chat commerce experience
We enabled businesses to send payment links in-chat to reduce the friction for customers during the checkout process. Businesses can generate payment links in chat and receive instant payment and refunds via our trusted partner Stripe. Additionally, our platform allows for seamless integration with popular e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento, or Salesforce Commerce Cloud to sync customer contacts and orders and provide a comprehensive chat-and-pay shopping experience.
HubSpot and Salesforce contact sync to manage large volumes of databases
Easily pull data from an existing CRM and sync it with SleekFlow. When managing customer conversations across social messaging platforms, businesses can save time and effort by eliminating the manual process of updating contact data.
What SleekFlow has achieved in 2022
We have empowered 5000+ clients across 120 regions, including MNCs, listed companies, education institutions, government bodies, and many more, to streamline sales, marketing, and support workflows across messaging channels.
In 2022 alone, we have enabled 32 million WhatsApp messages across 120 regions, helped businesses increase sales by 3 times, and boosted O2O sales by 18%.
Our focus remains on building high-quality products that solve real-world problems for our customers while ensuring that our team remains motivated and engaged in the process.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
It's been an exciting year for SleekFlow. Since our last interview, we have grown tremendously, with over 120 staff members across five different regions, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brazil.
Here’s a glance at our monthly active members' dashboard on Slack, showing that our headcount has grown by 30x within a single year.
In June 2022, we secured our USD 8M Series A funding round, led by top-tier New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Partners, followed by Transcend Capital and AEF Greater Bay Area Fund, which is managed by Gobi Partners GBA.
The funds have also made strategic market penetrations into Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia, as part of our expansion plans into emerging markets such as Brazil.
Due to our exponential growth, we have succeeded in building strategic partnerships with global industry leaders, like Meta and Microsoft.
Most recently, we were selected as a finalist in the L’Occitane Accelerator, powered by The Chalhoub Group’s The Greenhouse - the largest retail operator in the Middle East.
I believe that our platform's innovative features and strategic partnerships will continue to set us apart and allow us to deliver value to our customers.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
The last year has been filled with challenges, but the main one has been maintaining the momentum of growth for our team around the world. It's not just about growing quickly, but also about ensuring that everyone understands why we are changing so fast.
Striking a balance between frequent changes and making people feel comfortable has been a challenge that I've been constantly working on.
As the social commerce market continues to grow at an unprecedented pace, we have to act fast to build new products and develop high-quality products to meet the evolving needs of our customers. We did not expect this kind of growth, but it's something we have embraced and are working to capitalize on.
One of the biggest challenges we are currently facing is scaling into new verticals and geographies. As a Hong Kong-based startup, it is rare to enter markets outside of APAC. However, we are proactively scaling in Brazil and exploring emerging markets in the coming year.
We have learned to adapt quickly to changes in the market and have continued to push ourselves to achieve our goals.
Our focus remains on building high-quality products that solve real-world problems for our customers while ensuring that our team remains motivated and engaged in the process.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
The biggest lesson I learned in the last year is the importance of investing in people before focusing on business growth. I believe that before you grow your business, you need to grow your people. This means spending resources to hire the right people at the right time, providing development and training opportunities for our team, and ensuring that they feel valued and motivated to contribute to the long-term success of our company.
In the past year, we have made it a priority to cultivate a work culture where people are credited and appreciated for their daily wins, no matter how big or small. This has created a positive and supportive environment where our team feels empowered to take on new challenges and contribute their best work to the company.
Building a people-centric company takes time and effort. It requires a strong focus on hiring, training, and development, as well as a commitment to creating a positive and supportive work environment. However, the benefits are well worth the investment.
By putting our people first, we have seen increased productivity, creativity, and innovation within our team, which has translated into better outcomes for our customers and our business as a whole.
As we continue to grow and scale our business, we will remain committed to cultivating an inclusive culture that supports our team and enables them to achieve their full potential.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
In the coming years, our teams are focused on growing SleekFlow into the top social commerce unified hub. With the social commerce market expected to rise to USD 3.37 trillion by 2028, we are well-positioned to become a leader in the industry.
To achieve this goal, we are focused on partnerships with social media giants like Facebook and Instagram and adding more tools to our platform that emerge along with the latest trends.
We also want to provide industry-specific solutions, including e-commerce, retail O2O, beauty, medical & wellness, that streamline the entire commerce process, from product discovery to checkout and payment, and help businesses break through their sales growth limits.
As the social commerce market is expected to rise to USD 3.37 trillion by 2028, I hope to grow SleekFlow into the go-to social commerce unified hub – merging conversations, product catalogs, payment solutions, and order management into one for businesses. Our product roadmap will go beyond the existing chat dimension on social media, with more integrations and exclusive features, including live-streaming, short videos, and e-commerce booking.
What’s the best thing you watched in the last year?
The best thing I watched in the last year was "WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn." This documentary provided a fascinating case study on the rise and fall of WeWork. As a founder of a fast-paced startup like SleekFlow, I face countless challenges daily, and watching this documentary has provided me with important reminders and clarity.
It also highlights the importance of sustainable growth and profitability. As we continue to grow and expand SleekFlow, I will keep these lessons in mind and work to ensure that we remain a successful company for years to come.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their businesses?
Firstly, it's important to remember that success is not about absolute luck. It's about missing the first 100 times and then getting it by the 101st time.
Secondly, I would suggest joining an incubation program. This is a great way to get tangible resources to fund your idea and expand your industry network. In the beginning, you should focus on using low resources to make a minimum viable product.
Thirdly, don't focus solely on getting as many customers as possible without considering the long-term picture. Instead, focus on building a product that caters to specific needs in the market. It's important to be adaptable and ready to make changes to your product based on market changes and customer feedback.
Fourthly, always move fast and explain your thoughts to your teammates so that they can understand the situation and align with you. Being adaptable is key, as you can't always foresee what will happen in the future.
Finally, remember the quote "If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late." Speed matters a lot for an early-stage startup, so it's important to launch at an opportune time and then constantly tweak your product based on market feedback.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
Yes, we are always looking for motivated talent to join our team. Here are some roles that we are hiring for right now:
- Online Community Manager (Indonesia)
- Performance Marketing Operations Specialist (Indonesia)
- Software Engineering Manager - Frontend (Hong Kong)
- Software Backend Engineer (Malaysia)
- Software Backend Engineer (Indonesia)
- Quality Assurance Engineer (Malaysia)
- Quality Assurance Engineer (Indonesia)
For the most updated information, please refer to our LinkedIn job ads page.
Where can we go to learn more?
- Website - explore our social commerce features
- LinkedIn - keep updated with our latest developments
- YouTube (plenty of demos, quick tips, and tutorials!)
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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