Kenyan AI-powered commerce startup Flowcart has partnered with global payments technology company Mastercard to simplify how consumers discover products, place orders and make payments through social and conversational platforms.
The strategic collaboration is designed to allow businesses to integrate secure digital payments directly into chat-based shopping experiences, reducing the need for customers to leave messaging platforms and visit separate websites or applications before completing purchases.
Initially launching in Kenya, the initiative is expected to expand across East Africa and other high-growth African markets, including Nigeria, South Africa and Ivory Coast.
Flowcart, which operates as an AI-powered conversational commerce and customer relationship management platform built around WhatsApp, said the partnership would help businesses turn conversations into complete shopping journeys.
“Together, we are enabling a future where commerce and payments happen seamlessly within conversations,” founder Ananth Gudipati said.
Turning WhatsApp Conversations Into Shopping Experiences
At the heart of the collaboration is Flowcart’s effort to transform WhatsApp from a communication channel into a digital storefront where businesses can engage customers, showcase products, process orders and facilitate payments within one conversation.
Rather than requiring consumers to move between social media, websites, payment pages and other applications, the platform is designed to keep the entire customer journey within the chat environment.
This could be particularly useful for small businesses and social sellers that already depend on messaging platforms to reach customers but may not have sophisticated e-commerce websites or dedicated mobile applications.
Flowcart describes itself as an AI-powered conversational commerce and CRM platform that enables businesses to sell, engage customers and accept payments seamlessly.
According to founder Ananth Gudipati, the collaboration will serve “an independent social seller, a fast-growing SME or a large enterprise brand running WhatsApp as a core commerce channel.”
Mastercard Brings Payment Infrastructure Into the Conversation
Mastercard’s involvement adds a global payments network to Flowcart’s conversational commerce technology, creating a system in which digital payments can become part of the same interaction between a customer and a business.
For consumers, the practical implication is a potentially shorter route from discovering a product to paying for it. For merchants, the integration could help reduce abandoned purchases caused by complicated checkout processes and multiple redirects.
Mastercard also sees the initiative as an opportunity to increase digital payment acceptance among businesses that have traditionally operated outside formal e-commerce systems.
Shehryar Ali, Mastercard’s senior vice president and country manager for East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, said social commerce is “redefining how consumers discover and engage with brands.”
He added that the partnership would embed “secure, seamless payments directly into these experiences,” while creating new growth opportunities for merchants.
Why Social Commerce Matters to African Businesses
The partnership comes as social and messaging platforms increasingly become important channels for African businesses to market products, communicate with customers and generate sales.
For many entrepreneurs, particularly small and informal businesses, platforms such as WhatsApp can effectively serve as a storefront without the cost and technical requirements associated with building a conventional e-commerce operation.
Flowcart’s approach seeks to formalise more of this activity by connecting customer conversations with commerce management and digital payments.
The company believes this could increase transaction frequency, encourage repeat purchases and expand digital payment acceptance among underserved segments of the market.
Mastercard similarly sees the opportunity to bring more merchants into the digital economy.
By allowing payments to take place as part of an existing conversation, the partnership could make digital commerce more accessible to businesses whose customers already prefer interacting with sellers through social and messaging channels.
Expansion From Kenya to Nigeria and Other African Markets
The initiative will initially be launched in Kenya before expanding across East Africa and into other high-growth markets, with Nigeria, South Africa and Ivory Coast specifically identified as part of the planned expansion.
The wider ambition is to scale the model across pan-African markets, potentially giving businesses in different countries access to a common conversational commerce and digital payment infrastructure.
For Nigeria in particular, the expansion could be relevant to the country’s large population of entrepreneurs and small businesses that use WhatsApp and other social platforms to sell directly to customers.
Flowcart expects the combination of its AI-powered commerce orchestration platform and Mastercard’s payment network to help merchants improve conversion, increase repeat purchases and reach previously underserved customers.
Gudipati said the collaboration is intended to “drive higher conversion, repeat purchases and meaningful growth for merchants,” positioning conversational commerce as an increasingly important component of Africa’s digital economy.
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