Chatfuel
Headquarters
San Francisco, CAFounded
2015CEO / Founder
Dmitrii DumikEmployees
51-200Funding
Series B — $8.5MProducts
1 product listedAvg. AI Score
6.9/10Website
chatfuel.com/
Profile updated
About Chatfuel
Chatfuel develops chatbot automation software for messaging platforms, founded in 2015 by Dmitrii Dumik, Varvara Mironova, and Konstantin Zorin. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and grew out of an early no-code bot-building tool for Facebook Messenger.
The platform lets businesses build automated conversational flows for Instagram, WhatsApp, and TikTok, covering use cases such as lead generation, order processing, and customer support without requiring coding skills. Chatfuel positions itself as an official Meta Business Partner and has marketed its tools to e-commerce brands, agencies, and small businesses seeking to automate sales conversations on social messaging channels.
Chatfuel has raised venture funding from investors including Runa Capital and Point Nine Capital since its founding, and has evolved its product from a Messenger-focused bot builder to a broader multi-channel automation platform as messaging app usage shifted toward Instagram and WhatsApp.
Specialties
Financials
Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.
Products by Chatfuel
All products by Chatfuel reviewed by our AI panel of experts.
Competitive Landscape
Who Chatfuel competes with, and how they differ.
ManyChat is Chatfuel's closest rival in no-code Messenger/Instagram bot-building, historically more focused on DM marketing broadcasts and lead capture (Instagram Automation, SMS/email add-ons) than on Chatfuel's 2024 pivot toward autonomous AI sales agents for service SMBs like salons and clinics.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewed
Landbot centers on visual, no-code lead-generation flows for web and WhatsApp aimed broadly at marketing and ops teams, versus Chatfuel's narrower focus on service-industry SMBs and its shift toward autonomous booking/lead-qualification agents.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedWati is a WhatsApp Business API platform built around shared team inboxes, broadcast campaigns and commerce catalogs for SMBs, competing on WhatsApp automation but without Chatfuel's Instagram/Messenger multi-channel reach or its AI sales-agent workflows.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewed
Gupshup is a larger conversational-messaging CPaaS/API provider (WhatsApp Business API, RCS, SMS) that developers use to build custom bot logic, versus Chatfuel's fully no-code, SMB-facing builder with pre-packaged AI sales-agent workflows.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedCompany Timeline
Key milestones in Chatfuel's history, with sources.
- Funding
Raises $1.5M seed round led by Pre-Seed to Succeed
Round backed by AltaIR Capital, Yellow Rocks!, Smart Partnership Capital and I2BF Global Ventures via the Pre-Seed to Succeed program, plus the Alber Blanc fund; Alexander Korchevsky (I2BF Global Ventures) joined Chatfuel's board. Funds earmarked for product development and an app-version launch.
finsmes.com - Milestone
Pivots from chatbot builder to autonomous "AI Sales Assistant" agents
CEO Fedor Pak declared "chatbots are dead," repositioning Chatfuel around generative-AI sales agents that handle cross-selling, FAQs, order processing and booking for e-commerce SMBs on Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.
finance.yahoo.com - Launch
Opens self-service bot-building platform to publishers and general users
Chatfuel expanded beyond invite-only access, reporting 120,000+ bots built and 5 million+ users, with clients including Forbes, Adidas, T-Mobile and TechCrunch.
techcrunch.com - Funding
Yandex leads undisclosed funding round with Y Combinator, Noam Lovinsky participating
Yandex led an undisclosed round in February 2016, joined by Y Combinator and angel investor Noam Lovinsky (formerly Google/YouTube).
techcrunch.com - Milestone
Admitted to Y Combinator (Winter 2016 batch)
Chatfuel joined Y Combinator's Winter 2016 batch as a Messaging/Chatbots-category startup; co-founders Dmitrii Dumik and Artem Ptashnik listed as founders.
ycombinator.com - Partnership
Becomes an official Meta (Facebook) Messenger Platform partner
Chatfuel began partnering directly with Meta in 2016, integrating its no-code bot builder with Facebook Messenger, and later Instagram and WhatsApp.
nebius.com - Founded
Founded in San Francisco as "Paquebot" by Dmitrii Dumik and Artem Ptashnik
Chatfuel launched in 2015, initially operating under the name Paquebot before rebranding as Chatfuel later that year; co-founded by Dmitrii Dumik (CEO) and Artem Ptashnik.
techcrunch.com - Funding
Seed funding from 500 Startups, The Knight Foundation and angel investors (amount undisclosed)
Backers included 500 Startups, The Knight Foundation, and angels Andrey Doronichev (Google VR) and Jack Levin, investing in January 2015 before the company (then called Paquebot) launched as Chatfuel.
techcrunch.com
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