Zeals, a Tokyo-based startup that lets businesses communicate with their customers via its chat application, said Thursday it has secured $27.2 million (3.5 billion yen) in equity and $11.6 million (1.5 billion yen) in debt. The latest round brings its total funding raised to $41.4 million, the company said without disclosing its valuation.
JIC Venture Growth Investments led the Series E equity funding, with participation from Z Venture Capital, a venture investment arm of Z Holdings, Japan Post Capital and Salesforce Ventures. Mizuho Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group also joined in its debt financing.
Conversational commerce, a term coined by former Uber employee Chris Messina in 2015, enables online businesses to sell their products and services through messaging and chat apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The co …
