companies

Yalo

Mexican conversational commerce platform that turns WhatsApp into a sales channel for CPG and retail brands across Latin America.

Yalo was founded in Mexico by Javier Mata, initially operating under the name Yalochat and building chatbot integrations for Facebook Messenger before WhatsApp opened its business API. The company later dropped the consumer-chat framing to focus specifically on conversational commerce for large consumer goods and retail companies, moving its base of operations from San Francisco to Mexico City as its enterprise business grew. The platform lets field sales reps, distributors and small retailers place and manage orders through WhatsApp conversations rather than phone calls or paper order sheets, which matters in Latin American markets where a huge share of retail still runs through independent corner stores. Clients cited by the company include Nestle, Coca-Cola FEMSA, Mondelez, PepsiCo, Heineken and Unilever, and Yalo reports processing billions of transactions across roughly 40 countries. Yalo has raised close to $100 million total, including a $50 million round led by B Capital in 2021 and a $20 million Series C extension led by Glisco Partners in December 2023. Javier Mata continues as CEO.

Founded

2015

Headquarters

Mexico City, Mexico

Sector

applications