Yalo (company)

Artificial intelligence platform

YaloIndustry| Artificial intelligence, chatbots, services on messaging apps

|

Founder| Javier Mata
Headquarters|

Mexico City

Mexico

Number of locations

| 4
Website| yalo.ai

Yalo (formerly Yalochat) is an artificial intelligence platform specializing in emerging markets. Its headquarters were formerly in San Francisco with offices in Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Bogotá, and São Paulo.[1] It subsequently relocated to Mexico City[when?].

## Overview

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Yalo enables companies to interact with their customers in conversational commerce on messaging apps including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat.[1]

Customers include Walmart, Nike, Volkswagen, Aeroméxico, appliance and electronics retailer Elektra, Mexico's largest department store, Coppel, and Mexico's largest theme resort Xcaret.[1]

The company was founded in Mexico by CEO Javier Mata and was formerly based in San Francisco, but subsequently moved to Mexico. As at 2021 its board of directors includes Mark Fernandes and Rashmi Gopinath.[2]

In February 2018, the company announced the opening of its office in Shanghai, China, in alliance with venture capitalist Michael Kuan's company Strategic Impact Group.

In May 2021, Yalo raised $50 million in new funding led by B Capital, for a total of $75 million in total funding.[3]

## Platforms / Apps

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### Facebook Messenger

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Yalochat introduced a variety of services on Facebook Messenger in 2016, shortly after Facebook launched its chatbot platform.[4][5]

In April 2017, it announced that its chatbot with Aeroméxico had added an artificial intelligence component to the Facebook Messenger bot.[6][7][8]

### WhatsApp

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In October 2017, Aeroméxico announced that together with Yalochat it would launch services on the new enterprise platform of WhatsApp, the world's most popular messaging platform, and that it would be the first airline in The Americas to do so. Services available via WhatsApp include shopping for and purchasing flights, making changes, checking in and obtaining a boarding pass, and tracking a flight. It includes both an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, and chat with the airline's human agents.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

### WeChat

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In February 2018 Yalochat announced the opening of its office in Shanghai, China and that it had begun offering services on WeChat, China's most popular messaging app.[1]

### Line

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In an interview, Yalochat CEO Javier Mata said that the company was planning to offer services on Line messenger, popular in Japan, Korea and Thailand.[15]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d "Yalochat abre oficinas en China y profundiza su relación con Aeromexico" [Yalochat opens offices in China and deepens its relationship with Aeromexico] (in Spanish). Entrepreneur en Español. 22 February 2018.
2. ^ "Yalochat Inc.," Bloomberg, accessed 23 August 2021.
3. ^ Ingrid Lunden, "Yalo raises $50M to build ‘c-commerce’ services for chat apps like WhatsApp," TechCrunch, 26 May 2021.
4. ^ "A Chatbot Is Just The Beginning". AI Business. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
5. ^ Aeromexico. "Aeromexico Introduces Aerobot, the First Airline Chatbot in the Americas". www.prnewswire.com (Press release).
6. ^ Elliott, Christopher (22 June 2017). "New artificial intelligence promises to make travel a little smarter. Does it?". The Washington Post - via www.washingtonpost.com.
7. ^ "Aeromexico Taps Yalochat.com and IV.AI to Build First Advanced AI Customer Service Chatbot". PRNewswire. April 18, 2017.
8. ^ "Chatbot Or Not? Facebook Messenger Strategies Gain Modest Traction With Brands". AdExchanger. 25 April 2017.
9. ^ Forbes Staff (26 October 2017). "Aeroméxico te atenderá por WhatsApp durante 2018" [Aeromexico will serve you via WhatsApp in 2018]. Forbes (in Spanish).
10. ^ Notimex (27 October 2017). "Aeroméxico, ¿check-in desde el WhatsApp?" [Aeromexico, check-in via WhatsApp?] (in Spanish). El Economista.
11. ^ "Aeroméxico ofrecerá atención a clientes por WhatsApp" [Aeromexico will offer customer service via WhatsApp]. CNET (in Spanish). 27 October 2017.
12. ^ "Podrás ponerte en contacto con Aeroméxico por WhatsApp" [You'll be able to contact Aeromexico via WhatsApp]. www.elfinanciero.com.mx (in Spanish). El Financiero. 27 October 2017.
13. ^ "Aeroméxico ofrecerá servicio de atención a clientes por WhatsApp" [Aeromexico will offer customer service via WhatsApp] (in Spanish). Expansión. 27 October 2017.
14. ^ Redacción (27 October 2017). "Podrás hacer 'check in' y consultar tu vuelo con Aeroméxico a través de WhatsApp" [You'll be able to check in and check your flight with Aeromexico on WhatsApp]. Huffington Post (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
15. ^ Review, Tec (23 February 2018). "Empresa mexicana de chatbots se expande a China" [Mexican chatbot company expands to China] (in Spanish). TecReview.