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Clickatell Celebrates 25-Year Milestone, Leads the Shift to Agentic Chat Commerce
Clickatell, a global leader in AI-powered chat commerce, is celebrating its 25th anniversary, highlighting a legacy of innovation. A milestone that has transformed how businesses connect, engage, and transact with customers via mobile messaging and digital platforms.
RELATED: Clickatell achieves record growth in chat commerce
Founded in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2000, Clickatell began as an SMS technology pioneer. It become the first company to bridge the gap between internet-based businesses and mobile users using just four lines of code. Today, it stands at the forefront of the agentic commerce revolution. Clickatell is enabling secure, seamless transactions via everyday chat platforms like WhatsApp, SMS, and mobile apps.
From SMS to Agentic Commerce: A Journey of Firsts
Over the past two and a half decades, Clickatell has driven major industry advancements in conversational commerce, including:
- The world’s first tokenized payments on WhatsApp
- Fully KYC-compliant chat banking
- AI-driven Chat-2-Pay solutions in partnership with Visa
- Use cases across retail, banking, telecom, travel, and healthcare
Its enterprise-grade Chat Commerce Platform allows top global brands to deliver convenient, frictionless, and secure customer experiences. All of these empowering users to interact and transact within the same platforms they already use for everyday communication.
Trusted by leading companies such as Visa, Fiserv, Discovery, Absa, Pick n Pay, MTN, Telkom, and Toyota, Clickatell supports thousands of businesses across North America, Europe, and the Global South, making it one of the most widely deployed chat commerce solutions globally.
“No Hold, No App, No Friction” – The Future of Customer Experience
Speaking on the company’s 25-year milestone, Pieter de Villiers, Co-Founder and CEO of Clickatell, emphasized the company’s continued focus on customer empowerment through technology:
“From day one, our mission has been to give people back their time. As we celebrate 25 years, we’re proud to continue delivering trusted, meaningful, and convenient customer experiences in chat. No brand wants to keep customers on hold – and with Clickatell, they no longer have to.”
Clickatell’s vision for the future centers on agentic commerce—where AI agents, not human intermediaries, drive seamless transactions through secure, intelligent interactions within chat interfaces. This approach promises to revolutionize how brands conduct commerce, removing friction from every stage of the customer journey.
Deep Roots in South Africa, Global Social Impact
While now a global company, Clickatell maintains strong roots in South Africa, where a significant portion of its team is still based. The company is committed to creating positive social and economic change through:
- Entrepreneurship support via Endeavor SA and SiMODiSA
- Youth empowerment and digital skills development
- Community-building initiatives through The Collective X
These efforts reflect Clickatell’s long-standing belief that technology should serve as a tool for inclusive growth, not just profit.
Looking Ahead: Empowering Agentic Commerce Worldwide
As Clickatell enters its next chapter, the focus is on evolving its AI-powered platform into an intelligent, agent-driven commerce layer that lives within organizations—powering every chat-based customer interaction with secure, scalable transaction capabilities.
By leading the shift to agentic commerce, Clickatell is positioning itself not just as a technology provider, but as a catalyst for transformation across industries, geographies, and communities.
“The next 25 years will be about redefining how we shop, bank, travel, and interact—powered by AI, driven by trust, and made simple through chat,” said de Villiers.
