Yelen

What Yelen does

Yelen is a private, Delaware-incorporated (AlphaYele, Inc.) commerce and embedded-finance platform headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, serving unbanked and under-served small merchants and individual sellers across six West African francophone countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Togo). The platform combines an AI-powered store builder with native payment acceptance across Mobile Money operators (Orange Money, Wave, Moov Money) and card networks (Visa, Mastercard), together with a marketplace (Yelen Market) operating on WhatsApp with a pay-on-delivery model, a China-sourcing service (Yelen Sourcing), and a creator monetization module (Yelen Creators). A financial profiling engine builds merchant credit profiles from transaction history, positioning Yelen to extend inventory financing and working capital to sellers excluded from traditional banking.

Underlying the platform is a self-serve, product-led distribution model: merchants sign up directly at yelen.co, generate a storefront in approximately two minutes via generative AI (descriptions and visuals), and sell through shareable links on WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. The architecture vertically integrates commerce, payments, and (forthcoming) credit in a single stack, with Mobile Money integration acting as the primary financial rail for an audience that largely lacks bank accounts.

The business model is freemium with no subscription: monetization is driven by transaction fees (3.5% on Mobile Money, 5% on cards) only when merchants receive payment, supplemented by usage-based and subscription add-ons — SMS marketing (18 FCFA/message), email marketing (7 FCFA/email), custom domains (8,000 FCFA/year), and in-platform Yelen Ads (15,000 FCFA/campaign/month). Reported traction is 5,000+ active sellers, 4.8/5 user rating, and $40,000 of cumulative GMV processed since June 2025 against an advertised average of 300,000 FCFA of monthly seller sales, with a single early-stage funding round of $25,000 disclosed to date.

Name

Yelen

Legal name

AlphaYele, Inc.

Website

https://yelen.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Yelen provides an AI-powered e-commerce and embedded-payments platform for unbanked small merchants in francophone West Africa, enabling storefront creation, Mobile Money and card acceptance, WhatsApp-based selling, and forthcoming credit built on transaction history.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Commerce / Fintech Platform for African Merchants

NAICS

Sales Financing (52222), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153)

akta.pro primary industry

A2A Checkout & Merchant Acceptance Solutions (FSAMAFAF)

Keywords

• Social commerce platform
• Mobile money payments
• AI store builder
• African fintech platform
• Merchant financing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Abidjan

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Transaction Fees - Mobile Money: Primary revenue stream from 3.5% fee on all Mobile Money transactions processed through the platform. Merchants pay only when they receive payments, with no upfront costs or subscriptions.
2. Transaction Fees - Card Payments: 5% fee on card payments (Visa, Mastercard) processed through the platform. Higher fee than Mobile Money reflecting greater transaction costs.
3. Add-on Services (SMS Marketing): Optional SMS marketing service at 18 FCFA per message, enabling merchants to send promotional messages to customers directly from the platform.
4. Add-on Services (Email Marketing): Email marketing capability at 7 FCFA per email, providing cost-effective promotional channel for merchants with email customer lists.
5. Add-on Services (Custom Domain): Custom domain registration and hosting at 8,000 FCFA per year, allowing merchants to use their own branded domain for their Yelen store.
6. Add-on Services (Yelen Ads): Paid advertising campaigns within the Yelen platform at 15,000 FCFA per campaign per month, enabling merchants to boost visibility and sales.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Yelen provides African SMBs and individual sellers with an AI-powered e-commerce platform to create online stores in approximately 2 minutes, accept payments via Mobile Money operators (Orange Money, Wave, Moov) and card networks (Visa, Mastercard), sell through WhatsApp and social channels, and access stock financing and working capital credit built from transaction history. The platform is free to use with no subscription, monetizing via transaction fees and optional add-on services such as SMS marketing, email marketing, custom domains, and in-platform advertising.

Product overview

Yelen is a unified e-commerce and fintech platform positioned as 'La néobanque des vendeurs africains' (The neobank for African sellers). The core Yelen platform enables merchants to create AI-powered online stores in minutes and sell across social channels. The platform comprises several integrated products: Yelen Market for WhatsApp-based marketplace purchases with payment-after-delivery; Yelen Pay for multi-channel payment collection (Mobile Money via Orange/Wave/Moov, VISA, Mastercard); Yelen Sourcing for China import with tracking; Yelen Services for managed business operations; and Yelen Creators for video monetization. Optional Yelen Add-Ons provide supplementary services for SMS/email marketing, custom domains, and advertising campaigns. The platform builds merchant financial profiles to enable access to inventory financing and working capital credit.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Yelen Market: WhatsApp-based shopping and payment platform where customers can buy and pay only after receiving goods.
• Yelen Pay
• Yelen Sourcing
• Yelen Services
• Yelen Creators

Products and services

• Yelen Core Platform AI-powered e-commerce SaaS platform enabling African SMB merchants to create online stores in approximately 2 minutes, share products via WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok, accept Mobile Money and card payments, manage orders and deliveries, and build a transaction-based credit profile for access to financing. Positioned as 'La néobanque des vendeurs africains' (The neobank for African sellers).
• Yelen Market Aggregated WhatsApp-based marketplace where buyers can browse products from multiple Yelen merchants and purchase with payment only after receiving goods. Connects buyers and sellers within the Yelen ecosystem.
• Yelen Pay

Quantifiable outcome

• 5,000+ active sellers on platform as of 2026
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Orange MoneycoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegrated Mobile Money payment processor enabling merchants to accept Orange Money payments alongside Wave and Moov. Essential payment infrastructure partner for West African transactions.
• WavecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegrated Mobile Money payment processor specifically popular in Senegal, enabling merchants in applicable regions to accept Wave payments.
• Moov MoneycoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegrated Mobile Money payment processor covering multiple West African markets including Côte d'Ivoire and Togo, expanding merchant payment acceptance options.
• VisacoreTechnology or IntegrationCard network integration enabling international card payments (5% transaction fee) for merchants needing to accept credit and debit card payments.
• MastercardcoreTechnology or IntegrationCard network integration enabling international card payments (5% transaction fee) alongside Visa for comprehensive card acceptance.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Paystack: Nigerian payment processor (acquired by Stripe) enabling African merchants to accept card and bank payments. Comparable in serving SMEs with payment acceptance, though primarily Anglophone West Africa rather than francophone.
• Moniepoint: Nigerian merchant payment and banking platform serving SMEs and POS agents. Closely comparable business model of payment acceptance plus merchant financial services targeting similar informal seller segment.
• Flutterwave: Pan-African payment infrastructure provider serving merchants across multiple African countries. Comparable in offering integrated payment acceptance (cards and mobile money) plus merchant tools, with similar multi-country geographic strategy.
• OPay: Africa-focused mobile money and merchant services platform operating across Nigeria, Egypt, and other markets. Comparable in combining payment acceptance with merchant tools and embedded financial services for informal sellers.
• Chipper Cash: African cross-border mobile money and payment platform serving both consumers and merchants. Overlaps with Yelen in mobile money payment acceptance and merchant services across multiple African markets.
• M-Kopa: African fintech serving underbanked customers with pay-as-you-go asset financing and mobile financial services. Comparable in building financial identity for unbanked users through transaction data and providing embedded credit.
• Wave: Mobile Money operator with strong West African presence, particularly Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. Wave offers merchant payment acceptance and increasingly e-commerce functionality, directly competing with Yelen Pay in the same merchant base.
• Branch International: Mobile-first financial services platform providing loans and payments to underbanked users in Africa. Comparable in using alternative data to build credit profiles and serve merchants without traditional banking access.

Broad incumbents

• Interswitch: Pan-African digital payments and commerce incumbent operating payment switching, processing, and merchant services across multiple African countries. Overlaps with Yelen's payment processing layer as a broader, more established competitor.

Emerging players

• DLocal: Cross-border payment processor focused on emerging markets including Africa. Comparable in enabling merchants to accept payments across diverse local payment methods including mobile money and cards.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@useyelen
• Facebookfacebook.com/useyeelen
• TikToktiktok.com/@useyelen
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/yelenco

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

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 Yelen