|
|
|
|
August 21, 2025
|
Hackers Infiltrate Alleged North Korean Operative’s Computer, Leak Evidence of...
|
|
August 21, 2025
|
Ecosia Proposes Unusual Stewardship Model for Google Chrome
|
|
August 21, 2025
|
OpenAI Presses Meta for Evidence on Musk’s $97 Billion Takeover Bid
|
|
August 15, 2025
|
ChatGPT Mobile App Surpasses $2 Billion in Consumer Spending, Dominating Rivals
|
|
|
OneText Raises $4.5M to Reinvent Online Checkout with “Text-to-Buy” Commerce
July 8, 2025
The typical online checkout flow is cluttered, slow, and increasingly outdated — and OneText believes it’s time for a ground-up rethink. Rather than simply optimizing what exists, the startup is building a “text-to-buy” network, letting consumers complete purchases directly via SMS.
Founded by former PayPal employees Jonathan Fudem (CEO) and Daniel Brain (CTO), OneText just announced a $4.5 million seed round with backing from a stacked list of investors:
Khosla Ventures, Coatue, Citi Ventures, Y Combinator, Good Friends (the fund from the founders of Warby Parker, Allbirds, and Harry’s), and Muse frontman Matt Bellamy.
Reimagining Checkout—Through SMS
Fudem came up with the idea while working on PayPal’s checkout team, where he repeatedly saw startups with strong UX stumble at the same step: convincing merchants to rip out their existing checkout systems.
“That’s a hard pitch,” he said, especially when the merchant’s checkout provider is locked in by their e-commerce platform.
OneText avoids that problem entirely by working through SMS, which doesn’t require merchants to overhaul their websites or existing payment systems.
How It Works
Once a customer makes a purchase through OneText, their payment info is securely vaulted, enabling seamless one-reply reorders in the future. Think of it like “charging to your hotel room”, only this time, your phone number is the wallet.
OneText also introduces what Fudem calls “consentful automation.” For example, if a brand wants to charge a returning customer, they’ll send a text that gives the customer 24 hours to cancel — otherwise, the purchase goes through.
Not Just SMS Marketing
Unlike traditional SMS marketing platforms that spam inboxes with promo blasts, OneText uses a blend of AI-powered conversations and human support to drive engagement. The result? Conversion boosts of 20%–30%, thanks to features like:
Cart recovery
Post-purchase upsells
Personalized recommendations
Building a “Network” of Brands
Over time, OneText wants to become an SMS-native checkout network, where a shopper’s vaulted profile can be used across multiple brands — complete with prefilled data and smart product suggestions.
“Building a consumer-facing wallet that’s 10x better is really hard,” Fudem said. “But we can create a B2C texting platform that brings the ‘charge it to your room’ experience to your phone.”
Strong Early Traction
After quietly developing its platform post–Y Combinator Demo Day in 2023, OneText now powers checkout for midsized e-commerce brands doing $10M–$100M in annual revenue, and is also used by smaller startups and large enterprises.
“We’ve been scaling 3x year over year and doing millions in revenue,” Fudem said.
|
|
|
Sign Up to
Our Newsletter!
Get the latest news in tech.
|
|
|
