London-based Merx Raises €1.1Mn To Connect Brands With Consumers Via WhatsApp

The round was led by European VC firm VentureFriends, with participation from London-based Ascension.

The pre-seed funding will help Merx hire top software engineers, improve its product, enhance AI for better personalization, and integrate with enterprise platforms.

Pietro Cammerini, Co-founder of Merx, comments, “We believe the days of email marketing and website-centric digital commerce are over. In an AI-first world, brands will need to engage customers more directly, and provide hyper-personalised experiences wherever customers already are. This funding marks a pivotal moment for Merx as we continue our mission to revolutionise conversation commerce through AI and empower brands to engage with their customers in more meaningful ways.”

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Jed Rose, Partner at Antler, comments, “Pietro and Mohamed have deep expertise building and scaling AI-powered solutions in commerce. They are rightly recognised as leaders in this space and are laser focused on transforming the way brands interact with customers through conversational commerce. We are delighted to have backed Merx from day zero and have every confidence in their long-term future success.”

Apostolos Apostolakis, Venturefriends founding partner, comments, “Over the years we have seen an increased difficulty for consumer facing companies to effectively engage with their audience and better serve their needs. WhatsApp can offer a very effective way to drive engagement as well as sales. We are excited to partner and support Pietro and Mohamed who have a deep understanding of the space and with Merx can help companies harness the WhatsApp channel.”

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Founded in 2023 by Pietro Cammerini and Mohamed El Shaer, Merx enables brands to chat with customers on WhatsApp and similar platforms, helping them find products and get support.

Cammerini and El Shaer met during a founder residency in London run by VC firm Antler. Cammerini, a digital commerce expert, has over a decade of experience working with global brands at Accenture. El Shaer, with a background in computer science, previously worked at Microsoft as a Product Marketing Manager and has founded multiple startups in Egypt.

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Merx says businesses are struggling with lower returns from traditional digital marketing like email and paid ads. As a result, brands are adopting "conversational commerce" – AI-powered, personalized customer interactions through messaging apps.

This new way of shopping, where customers chat directly with brands, is growing quickly.