Jelou has closed a $10 million Series A funding round to expand Brain, its platform for building AI agents that securely execute financial and business operations directly inside WhatsApp conversations. Led by Wellington Access Ventures with participation from Krealo (Credicorp’s corporate venture arm) and Collide Capital, the round brings Jelou’s total funding to $13 million. After proving its technology in highly regulated banking environments across Latin America—where it has processed over $100 million in transactions—the company is now targeting U.S. businesses and SMBs with conversational AI that completes payments, account openings, credit underwriting, and more without leaving the chat.
“When customers are most ready to act, things usually fall apart,” said Luis Loaiza, CEO and founder of Jelou. “They get redirected out of the conversation, put on hold, or asked to repeat themselves across systems. We built Brain so businesses can meet customers where they already are and complete the entire operation securely inside chat. This round allows us to scale that model across the Americas and push conversational AI beyond talk into execution.”
Messaging platforms like WhatsApp have become the primary interface for customer-business interactions across the Americas, yet transactional steps—payments, identity verification, credit applications, and signatures—are typically redirected to separate apps, portals, or call centers. This creates friction, cart abandonment, and high operational costs. Jelou’s Brain platform addresses this by enabling AI agents to perform end-to-end execution inside the conversation, integrating directly with existing systems to deliver seamless, secure outcomes.
The platform supports secure, compliant operations in regulated environments, allowing agents to handle sensitive financial workflows while maintaining full auditability and control. Businesses can deploy agents that collect missing information, verify identity, trigger payments, and advance processes using live data—all without forcing users out of WhatsApp.
Founded in Ecuador in 2017, Jelou has expanded across Latin America by solving real-world challenges in fragmented, multi-system environments. The company now serves more than 500 clients in banking, retail, logistics, and consumer goods, demonstrating proven scalability and regulatory compliance.
“The future of AI is centered around communication channels embedded within the everyday workflow,” said Jackson Cummings, Head of Wellington Access Ventures. “They are developing a platform that integrates voice AI, chat AI, payments, and identity into a single application layer. This strategic approach positions Jelou as an early mover in bringing transactional AI to messaging in Latin America.”
With the new funding, Jelou will accelerate U.S. market entry, targeting businesses and SMBs seeking to reduce friction and costs through conversational commerce. Long-term, the company aims to transform Brain into a comprehensive operating system for building, deploying, and managing production-ready WhatsApp applications directly from natural language prompts.
About Jelou
Founded in Ecuador in 2017 by Luis Loaiza and Alberto Vera, Jelou builds AI agents that enable companies to run financial operations inside conversational channels. The company operates in more than 13 countries and serves over 500 clients across banking, retail, logistics, and consumer goods.
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