Jelou

What Jelou does

Jelou is a WhatsApp-native conversational AI platform that automates key customer interactions for Latin American businesses. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in New York with a regional base in Quito, Ecuador, the company serves more than 500 businesses across 13 countries and has processed over $100 million in financial operations for clients in banking, retail, logistics, consumer goods, subscriptions, e-commerce, and professional services.

The platform is built on a core AI infrastructure called Brain, which enables AI agents to execute financial transactions directly inside WhatsApp conversations without requiring app downloads. Three specialized agents sit on top of this infrastructure: Guadalupe, focused on collections and recovery of recurring payments; Sofía, an e-commerce assistant that detects purchase intent, answers questions, and validates transfers; and Madi, a retail field-operations assistant that validates store visits, sales, and zone coverage in real time. The agents integrate directly with major Latin American payment gateways — Stripe, Mercado Pago, Conekta, MIT, and Wompi — and apply emotional detection and contextual personalization to conversations.

Jelou monetizes through what appears to be a combination of recurring platform subscriptions and transaction-based fees on the financial volume processed. The company operates a primarily self-serve, product-led motion via WhatsApp, supplemented by demo-driven inside sales for mid-market and enterprise customers, and rides the partner ecosystems of Stripe and Mercado Pago for distribution. It is venture capital-backed with $13 million in total funding, including a $10 million Series A led by Wellington Access Ventures in January 2026, and is part of diversified conglomerate Grupo GDA.

Name

Jelou

Legal name

Jelou.com

Website

https://jelou.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Jelou is a WhatsApp-native conversational AI platform that automates collections, e-commerce, and retail field operations for over 500 subscription and enterprise businesses across 13 Latin American countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Conversational AI Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Finance Services (6199), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAAABAG

Onboarding, KYC & Account Verification Support

Business & Public Services/Administrative & Support Services (BPO, Call Centers, Back Office)/Omnichannel Customer Support (Email, Chat, Social, Messaging)

SECONDARYBPAEAGAH

Enterprise Integration, iPaaS & Middleware Services (API/EDI)

Business & Public Services/IT & Digital Services (Managed Services, Systems Integration)/Enterprise Applications Services (ERP/CRM/HRIS)

Keywords

• Conversational AI platform
• WhatsApp payment automation
• AI collections assistant
• Recurring payment recovery
• Ecommerce AI agent

Headquarters

HQ city

Panamá

HQ country

Mexico

HQ region

Latin America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Platform Subscription: AI conversational platform providing specialized agents for collections, e-commerce, and retail. Likely operates on subscription basis based on business size or usage volume.
2. Transaction Processing: Platform processes financial operations for customers across banking, retail, logistics, and consumer goods sectors. Revenue derived from transaction processing fees on the $100M+ in financial operations handled.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Jelou is a conversational AI platform that automates key customer interactions via WhatsApp without requiring app downloads. Its core offering is a suite of specialized AI agents — Guadalupe for collections and recurring payment recovery, Sofía for e-commerce purchase assistance, and Madi for retail field operations — all built on the Brain platform that integrates directly with payment gateways such as Stripe, Mercado Pago, Conekta, MIT, and Wompi to execute financial transactions within WhatsApp conversations.

Product overview

Jelou is a conversational AI platform that automates key business interactions with customers via WhatsApp. The platform consists of the core 'Brain' AI infrastructure, supported by three specialized AI assistants: Guadalupe (collections and payment recovery), Sofía (e-commerce purchase assistance), and Madi (retail field operations management). The platform targets businesses with recurring payments across subscription, e-commerce, and retail/logistics sectors, operating as a unified system that initiates conversations, guides processes, and personalizes communications based on customer context.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Guadalupe: AI conversational assistant specialized in collections and payment recovery for businesses with recurring payments. Operates via WhatsApp, managing customer payment reminders with empathy and human-like interaction.
• Sofía
• Madi
• Brain

Products and services

• Guadalupe

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 50% improvement in collecting recurring payments
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationOfficial payment gateway integration partner. Jelou's platform connects directly to Stripe for payment processing and transaction validation within WhatsApp conversations.
• Mercado PagocoreTechnology or IntegrationOfficial payment gateway integration partner and listed as an official partner of Jelou. Platform connects to Mercado Pago for processing payments across Latin American markets.
• ConektacoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegrated payment gateway partner enabling Jelou to connect with merchants using Conekta's payment infrastructure for collection automation.
• Grupo GDAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent company and strategic partner. Jelou is part of Grupo GDA ('Parte del Grupo GDA'), which uses the platform internally for collection operations across its business units. GDA Lab and Grupo GDA entities are reference customers.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Yalo: Yalo is a LATAM-focused conversational commerce and AI agent platform built natively on WhatsApp, helping enterprises automate sales, support, and collections — directly comparable to Jelou's WhatsApp-native AI agent approach for the same regional customer base.
• Zenvia: Zenvia is a Brazilian conversational AI and CPaaS company offering WhatsApp Business API solutions, chatbots, and sales automation across Latin America — overlapping directly with Jelou in messaging-based customer engagement for LATAM SMBs and enterprises.
• Take Blip: Take Blip is a Brazilian conversational AI platform specializing in chatbots, automation, and integrations with messaging channels like WhatsApp — a direct regional competitor to Jelou in building AI agents for sales, support, and operational workflows.
• Aivo: Aivo is a conversational AI company headquartered in Argentina/LATAM providing AI-powered customer service and sales automation, with strong WhatsApp integration — competing in the same regional conversational AI agent category as Jelou.

Broad incumbents

• Yellow.ai: Yellow.ai is a global enterprise conversational AI platform supporting multiple channels including WhatsApp, with dynamic AI agents for support, sales, and marketing — a broader incumbent offering comparable WhatsApp-based conversational AI capabilities to Jelou at global scale.
• Sinch: Sinch is a global CPaaS leader providing messaging APIs, including WhatsApp Business API, and conversational AI tooling — overlapping with Jelou's API-first WhatsApp distribution and broader enterprise communication automation.
• Twilio: Twilio is a global cloud communications platform offering the WhatsApp Business API and tools for building chatbots and conversational experiences — a broad incumbent whose messaging infrastructure Jelou depends on indirectly and whose Engage product competes with Jelou's agents.

Emerging players

• Cognigy: Cognigy is an enterprise conversational AI platform with strong agent-assist and automation capabilities used in customer service operations — comparable to Jelou's specialized AI agents (Guadalupe, Sofía, Madi) as alternative enterprise-side automation layers.
• Ada: Ada is an AI-native customer service automation platform powering chat and messaging experiences — comparable to Jelou in providing AI agent-driven customer interactions, but more focused on English/global enterprise support rather than WhatsApp-native LATAM collections.

Regional players

• Hubtype: Hubtype is a European conversational platform providing WhatsApp Business API-based customer service automation with a strong focus on regulated industries — comparable to Jelou's WhatsApp-native customer engagement model, albeit focused primarily on European markets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jelou-group
• Instagraminstagram.com/jelou_ia_conversacional/?hl=es

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Jelou