Jelou is betting on a shift many companies haven’t fully grasped yet: the next operating system for business won’t be apps, it will be built around texting and calling.
Instead of pushing users to websites or call centers, the company enables local and compliant capabilities that allow businesses to execute payments, identity checks, credit applications, and contract signatures within a single conversation.
These capabilities are especially powerful because they are designed to integrate with the hyper-local financial infrastructure of each country, an advantage in markets where rules differ widely. And in regions like Latin America, where WhatsApp dominates communication and transactions, this model accelerates even faster.
To accelerate that shift, Jelou has raised a $10 million Series A led by Wellington Access Ventures, with participation from Krealo (Credicorp’s Corporate Venture Capital) and Collide Capital.
With this capital, Jelou is doubling down on the expansion of Brain OS, its core platform that allows organizations to build AI agents that integrate directly with internal systems (banking cores, payment processors, KYC providers, ERPs, inventory systems and CRMs).
This lets companies automate high-stakes workflows without breaking the conversational flow, a critical advantage in markets where over 30% of transactions are abandoned when users are pushed outside the chat.
Jelou Brain aims to transform everyday texting and calling into the next computing environment. Users already live in messaging. We’re making it the place where real operations happen. We envision it to become the fastest way to build enterprise-grade AI Applications by leveraging the largest financial infrastructure in the region,” says co-founder and CEO Luis Loaiza.
Jelou already powers more than 500 companies and has processed over $100 million in financial products through in-chat operations. Clients include Arca Continental, Banco de Crédito del Perú, AB InBev, Banco Guayaquil, Falabella Colombia and Banco Unión.
Jelou recognizes that 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.
How companies are adopting Jelou
One example of this model in practice is Mibanco, the first microenterprise bank in Latin America to launch multiple financial services in WhatsApp, from opening bank accounts to underwrite credit, all powered by Jelou AI Tools.
Two years ago, Jelou also became the first AI agent builder to help Banisi to become the first bank in Panama to open thousands of accounts entirely through WhatsApp, all without leaving the chat.
Jelou is proving that a full banking experience can live inside WhatsApp: from onboarding and identity verification to payments, credit, and customer operations. For financial institutions, this represents a massive leap in accessibility and efficiency. We invested because Jelou has built the most complete infrastructure for delivering regulated financial services through conversational channels, something no other platform in the market comes close to achieving,” states Adolfo Vinatea, CEO of Krealo, Credicorp’s Corporate Venture Capital.
As we speak, dozens of banks and financial institutions are building their AI App with native transaction capabilities using Brain OS.
Brain OS: the fastest way to build transactional AI Apps
Jelou will use the new capital to accelerate the mass adoption of Brain OS, its AI App builder designed to unify the transactional capabilities that businesses rely on every day (payments, identity verification, data capture, underwriting, workflows, and enterprise integrations) into a single, WhatsApp-native system.
The platform provides an AI Assistant that helps businesses and micro-SaaS creators deploy multiple AI agents connected directly to core systems, payment rails, and identity verification providers.
Jelou aims to become the “Replit” to build Whatsapp AI Apps that execute financial operations. These AI agents can trigger multiple fintech vendor workflows, initiate payments, request document signatures, or launch credit origination flows, all within a single chat.
Its key advantage is native integration with local financial infrastructure in each country, enabling regulated workflows to run reliably across markets with very different compliance requirements.
Most AI companies are still building demos. Jelou is building the infrastructure for production. Their multi-agent architecture, identity verification, payments orchestration, and WhatsApp-first approach position them as the leader in AI Applications for emerging markets and, soon, globally,” concludes Brian Hollins, Founder & Managing Partner at Collide Capital.
The company has now raised $13 million in total, including a prior $3 million Seed round led by Act One Ventures (US) and Arca Continental Ventures.
Jelou also maintains strategic regional partnerships with Meta, Google, and Huawei, relationships that strengthen its go-to-market efforts and position the company to reach hundreds of enterprises across Latin America.
The company announced that it will open offices in Mexico and Colombia, strengthen its presence in Peru, and begin its entry into Brazil and the United States.
About Jelou
Founded in Ecuador in 2017 by Luis Loaiza and Alberto Vera, Jelou builds transactional AI agents that enable companies to run core operations inside conversational channels. Loaiza brings extensive experience building and scaling multinational technology companies across Mexico, Chile, and Brazil, with a track record of assembling hyper-efficient engineering and operations teams throughout the region. Today, Jelou operates in more than 13 countries and serves over 500 clients across banking, retail, logistics, and consumer goods.
Press: [email protected]
More: https://jelou.ai/ | Start building in Brain OS: https://apps.jelou.ai/signup
