The typical online checkout experience is blown up with friction. And although more companies build solutions around online payment, few reconsider it all over again. Such a company is OnThat is built what it calls a ‘text-to-buy network’, with which shoppers can complete purchases via SMS.
The company, founded by former PayPal employees, just closed a $ 4.5 million seed round, supported by Khosla Ventures, Coatue, Citi Ventures, Y Combator, Good Friends (the fund made by the founders of Warby Parker, Allbirds and Harry’s), and Matt Bellamy, De Frontamy, De Frontamy, De Frontamy, De Frontamy,
Co-founder and CEO Jonathan Fudem Came up to the idea while working at the PayPal cash register team. There he saw many starters stumbling with slippery UX about the same go-to-market obstacle: convincing traders to change their existing payment flows.
“That is a hard pitch,” said Fudem, adding that many sellers don’t even have the freedom to choose their cash register provider; It is often determined by their e-commerce platform.
By using SMS, Onetext does not require a trader to replace the existing cash register of his website. Although large platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp also have e -commercial functions, Fudem believes that brands still need direct, their own relationships with their customers.
Onetext itself regards as a competitor of the SMS marketing companies that are known for massive, impersonal messages and spam links.
Instead, it uses a combination of Tools-inclusive AI-driven two-way interviews and people in the loop-up to improve the conversions by 20-30%. Functions such as cart recovery, post-purchase upsells and shopper-specific recommendations make sense to that performance.
Under the hood, Onetext has its own wallet that integrates with the existing processor of a brand to complete transactions. DeeFeText flasts of the payment cancellation of the house of the house after their first purchase. From that moment they can order again with a single answer.
This “map-on-file” setting is what Onetext believes that his text trade makes it similar to charging items to a room during a hotel stay.
To make that work, Opetext uses what Fudem calls “permission” automation. If a brand wants to charge a customer for a re -ordering, Onetext sends a text text that the payment continues within 24 hours, unless the customer cancels. It is standard opt-out.
Over time, it is planning to expand the network so that shoppers can use their vaulted profiles in multiple brands, with pre -filled payment data and smarter recommendations.
In that sense, the company builds something much bigger: a cross-brand, SMS-Native payment network.
“Building a consumer -oriented wallet that is 10x better is really difficult,” Fudem said. “But we can make a business-to-consumer-SMS platform that brings the ‘load it to your room’ experience, only now is your telephone number. That’s how we will build the network.”
Onetext went on Y Combinator in 2023 And quietly built his platform after the Demo Day. Nowadays, the Platform has medium-sized e-commerce brands, which do $ 10 million-$ 100 million in annual income, such as customers, says Fudem, although it also supports smaller startups and large companies.
“We scaled up 3 times after year and made millions of income,” said Fudem, who launched the company with CTO Daniel Brain.
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