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AI sales agents for WhatsApp and other channels · Chile

Vambe: Revenue, team and how it was built

Small teamFundedB2BSales

Vambe (AI sales agents for WhatsApp and other channels, Chile): More than US$11M a year run rate, August 2026. Evidence grade D: reported, not verified. Team: 3 founders in 2023; about 18 to 30 people in December 2024; more than 180 in August 2026. Launched 2023; still running, revenue growing.Added

Outcome
More than US$11M a year run rate, August 2026Revenue growing
Evidence
D reported, not verified
Launch
2023
Status
Still running
Team
3 founders in 2023; about 18 to 30 people in December 2024; more than 180 in August 2026
Outside funding
US$3.85M in late 2024 and a US$14M Series A in 2025 (press); US$18.4M in total (company)
Main channel
Not stated
Reported, not verified

What is not verified

The headline of more than US$11 million in ARR rests on one company statement, reported by Forbes Chile on 19 August 2026. The article gives no date for the figure. No payment-processor profile, filing or second interview was found. A reader could look for a TrustMRR-style profile, an audited statement or a second report with a date. The headline number is grade D: one claim or one estimate, with no second source. Aiolum shows it because the story is useful, and marks it so that it is not mistaken for a verified figure.

Vambe sells AI agents that hold sales and support conversations with a company's customers on WhatsApp, Instagram, web chat and phone calls. An AI agent here is a program that reads a customer message and answers it. It also takes actions, such as booking a meeting or updating a CRM. The company has offices in Chile, Mexico and Brazil.

Three founders started it in Chile in mid-2023: Nicolás Camhi, Matías Pérez and Diego Chahuán. Diario Financiero reported in December 2024 that it began as an AI debt-collection tool and closed its first customer in December 2023. In December 2024 Diario Financiero reported, citing the company, US$1 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue, the value of subscriptions over twelve months). LatamList gave the same figure that month. In August 2026 Forbes Chile reported, citing the company, more than US$11 million in ARR and a team of more than 180 people.

The headline figure is the company's own statement in one press report, grade D. No payment processor or other outside party has checked it. The funding figures differ by source. The press reported US$3.85 million in late 2024 and a US$14 million Series A in 2025. The company's own file says US$18.4 million in total.

Vambe: More than US$11M a year run rate, August 2026. AI sales agents for WhatsApp and other channels, Chile, started small, grew after funding, evidence grade D.
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01

Why did Vambe work?

Four causes, in the order they mattered. Each one is a reusable lesson.

01

A customer showed the founders which part of the product mattered

Diario Financiero reported that the founders built Iris to manage WhatsApp conversations for debt collection. One user asked to use it for sales and re-enrolment campaigns. Camhi said the user cared only about Iris, and the team decided to focus on conversational sales. The product kept its WhatsApp core and widened to the whole sales path.

02

Customers pay for conversations and get onboarding with the plan

The live pricing page says customers pay for the conversations, channels and flows they use, with a dedicated team for set-up. Archived pages from 2024 and 2025 show plans limited by chats a month, extra-conversation fees and, in May 2025, a US$450 setup fee. Onboarding work is part of what is sold.

03

Funding paid for new offices and a much larger team

Diario Financiero reported that Camhi moved to Mexico City by May 2025 and opened an office there. The newspaper said Mexico brought 30% of revenue by December 2025. Camhi said the Series A would double the technology team and pay for regional expansion. Forbes Chile reported the Brazil start in 2026 and a team of more than 180.

How it was built

These details come from Vambe's terms, privacy policy, blog and press interviews. They are company statements, grade C. [2, 14, 15, 21, 23, 16]

  • The first product was an AI debt-collection tool. Its internal part, Iris, handled WhatsApp conversations: payment commitments, debt renegotiation and reminders (Diario Financiero, December 2024).
  • The terms of service say the platform uses AI models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini and Meta AI, and that it may change providers. The privacy policy also lists AWS, ClickHouse Cloud, MongoDB Atlas, Datadog, Firebase, Stripe and HubSpot as sub-processors.
  • Messaging runs through the WhatsApp Business API, Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct. The terms make the customer responsible for consent and for the platforms' policies.
  • Panda AI, the assistant for Vambe's own customers, had a system prompt of about 200,000 tokens. A founder who wrote the post said it was cut to 4,000 to 6,000 tokens by loading tool descriptions from separate files.
  • AI Calls chains speech-to-text, a language model and text-to-speech. A product engineer wrote in June 2026 that accents and delay were the main problems.
  • A VP of Technology wrote in July 2025 that the front end moved to a monorepo and the engineers work in squads per product.

Tools named in the sources

Each one opens its page in the Tools tab, with every story that uses it.

02

Who tried this before Vambe, and why did they fail?

Five companies in our database of failed startups sold automated customer conversations or sales automation before language models could hold one. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.

Died 2014 to 2022Burned US$600K

RightHello

The promise

Live chat that turned online shop visitors into customers with real-time conversations.

Why it died

The record says it was stuck in the middle, with too many features to win on price. Intercom, Drift and Zendesk moved into the same market.

Competition
Died 2013 to 2016Burned US$550K

Answerly

The promise

FAQ answers inside company websites, with only hard questions sent to human agents.

Why it died

The record says the promise did not match how customer service works. Counting deflected tickets did not make customers feel helped.

Product fit
Died 2009 to 2017Burned US$60M

Ve Interactive

The promise

Pop-ups and messages that recovered lost sales from shoppers about to leave a website.

Why it died

The record says growth outran the unit economics. The company raised heavily and could not make the numbers work.

Business model
Died 2021 to 2024Burned US$15M

Toplyne

The promise

AI that found which free users were ready to pay and sent them to sales teams.

Why it died

The record says timing and product fit wore away together. It calls the product a nice-to-have, not a need.

Market timing
Died 2015 to 2018Burned US$5M

VOIQ

The promise

On-demand outbound sales calls made by a network of trained agents.

Why it died

The record says competitors with a broader network, such as Upwork, and the work of managing a distributed workforce held it back.

Competition

The failed startups come from our database of 1,749 dead startups, retold here in our own words. Its entries are AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so these cards carry no evidence grade.

What changed

Each of the five sold automated or outsourced customer conversations. Their records describe thin features, weak product fit, high cost or a larger competitor. Vambe's story sits next to them because it sells the same thing: more answered conversations and more closed sales.

Two things differ. First, language models let one agent hold a free-form conversation, which FAQ matching and pop-ups could not do. Second, Vambe works inside WhatsApp, a channel the customer's own buyers already use, and charges by conversation. Whether this lasts is open: the revenue figures are the company's own statements to the press.

03

Can one person copy Vambe now?

The pivot, yes. The scale, no.

The method to copy is small: start with a narrow paid job, watch which part customers use, and move to it. The three founders did this with a collections tool and then sold conversational sales. The scale is not a solo path: the company raised outside funding and has more than 180 people, according to Forbes Chile.

Where it is still open: Other messaging channels and local markets where customers already write to businesses, and industries with many unanswered messages, such as clinics and car dealers.

  1. 1Pick a narrow job for paying customers, such as debt collection, and build the messaging part so it works alone.
  2. 2Ask each early customer which part they use. Camhi said one customer cared only about the messaging part.
  3. 3Sell by volume of conversations, with a set-up service, as the archived price pages show.
  4. 4Use the official WhatsApp Business API and put consent rules in the terms, as Vambe's terms do.
04

How much revenue does Vambe make?

Each row shows the evidence grade and the source numbers from the list at the end of this page. The grades are explained in How Aiolum verifies.

From a three-founder start in 2023 to more than US$11 million in annual recurring revenue by August 2026, as the company told the press. Every figure is a company statement
FactValueGradeHow we knowSources
Annual recurring revenue, August 2026more than US$11 millionDForbes Chile, 19 August 2026, citing the company: “superando los US$ 11 millones en ingresos anuales recurrentes” (translation: exceeding US$11 million in annual recurring revenue). Ecosistema Startup retells it as the end of the first half of 2026.[5, 6]
New-sales record, June 2026US$1.7 million of ARR from new customers in one monthDForbes Chile, 19 August 2026, citing the company. It also says the company expects more than US$2 million of new monthly sales in the third quarter.[5]
Annual recurring revenue, December 2024US$1 millionDDiario Financiero, 4 December 2024, and LatamList, 9 December 2024: “an ARR of over $1M”. Both repeat the company's figure.[1, 2]
Growth from December 2024 to August 2026about 11 times in 20 monthscalcCalculated: US$11 million divided by US$1 million, over the 20 months between the two company statements.[2, 5]
Funding round, November 2024US$3.85 million, led by MonasheesCDiario Financiero says the round closed in the first week of November 2024. Nazca, M13 and Chile Ventures also joined. LatamList reported it on 9 December 2024.[1, 2]
Series AUS$14 million, led by MonasheesCDiario Financiero says it closed at the end of September 2025. Diario Financiero and Bloomberg Línea reported it on 3 December 2025.[3, 4]
Total funding stated by the companyUS$18.4 millionCThe company's own file, updated 11 September 2026. It also says the Series A was announced at the end of 2024; the press dates it to 2025.[7]
Difference between the rounds and the totalabout US$0.55 million above the two roundscalcCalculated: US$3.85 million plus US$14 million is US$17.85 million; US$18.4 million minus that is US$0.55 million. Diario Financiero also reported US$200,000 from the SkyDeck accelerator and an earlier seed investment of unstated size.[2, 3, 7]
Founders3: Nicolás Camhi (CEO), Matías Pérez and Diego Chahuán (CTO)CThe about page says “3 Fundadores” (translation: 3 founders). Diario Financiero and Forbes Chile name the same three.[2, 5, 8]
Start of the companymid-2023CDiario Financiero, 4 December 2024: “fundada a mediados de 2023” (translation: founded in mid-2023). LatamList says 2023. No company register was read.[1, 2]
Earlier product and first customerAI debt-collection tool; first customer in December 2023CDiario Financiero: Vambe “ya era una herramienta de cobranza impulsada por inteligencia artificial” (translation: was already a debt-collection tool driven by AI). The first customer closed in December 2023.[2]
Team, December 2024about 30 people (one report) or 18 people (another)CDiario Financiero, 4 December 2024: “cerca de 30 personas” (translation: about 30 people). Diario Financiero, 3 December 2025, says 18 people worked there at that time.[2, 3]
Team in 202510 people in Mexico in April; more than 50 in total in July; 80 in DecemberCThe CEO's post of 2 April 2025, an engineering leader's post of 2 July 2025, and Diario Financiero of 3 December 2025.[3, 16, 17]
Team in 2026more than 170 in June; more than 180 in August; almost 200 in SeptemberCA Vambe staff post of 3 June 2026, Forbes Chile of 19 August 2026, and the company's file of 11 September 2026. The careers page shows an undated “+120 personas en CL y MX”.[5, 7, 18, 19]
Customers375 in December 2024; more than 1,000 active in December 2025; more than 2,500 companies on the home pageCDiario Financiero, 4 December 2024 and 3 December 2025 (Camhi: 1,700 implementations, more than 1,000 active clients). The home page counter is undated.[2, 3, 9]
PricesUS$145 to US$485 a month in archived copies; none on the live pageCInternet Archive copies of the pricing page, 12 November 2024 and 20 May 2025. The live page offers a free consultation and a custom plan.[10, 11, 12]
Time from start to the August 2026 figure38 monthscalcCalculated: from mid-2023, taken as June 2023, to August 2026.[2, 5]

How to read this table. A grade D value is a company statement reported by the press, with one source and one date. A grade C value is a company statement that a second page or date supports. A "calc" value was computed on this page from the rows above it.

Vambe prices as listed in two Internet Archive copies of its pricing page (12 November 2024 and 20 May 2025). The live page, read 11 November 2026, lists no prices
PlanPer month, billed yearly (US$)Per month, billed monthly (US$)Limit
Starter, November 2024145up to 500 chats a month, 1 funnel
Advanced, November 2024395up to 3,000 chats a month, 3 funnels
Starter, May 2025185up to 700 chats a month, 1 funnel
Advanced, May 2025355up to 2,000 chats a month, 1 funnel
Expert, May 2025485up to 3,000 chats a month, 1 funnel
Corporatecustom plan, contact sales

The live page says each plan is built to measure and that the customer pays for the conversations, channels and flows used. The archived pages show one price per month and a badge "SAVE 32% ANNUAL" or "SAVE 25% ANNUAL". They do not say which billing period the shown price is for. Extra conversations cost US$0.25 each in 2024 and US$0.30 each in 2025. The May 2025 page shows a US$450 setup fee and says the WhatsApp API has a separate cost through Meta.

05

When did Vambe launch, and how did it grow?

From a debt-collection tool in 2023 to offices in three countries in 2026. Each entry carries its grade, and the team size rows differ between two press reports.

  1. Mid-2023CCamhi leaves another startup and looks for a part-time job. Vambe is already an AI debt-collection tool, which the founders had worked on at weekends. [2]
  2. December 2023CThe first customer signs. Diario Financiero says the company had US$40,000 in ARR five months later. [2]
  3. May 2024CThe company joins the SkyDeck accelerator at Berkeley, having changed its focus to conversational sales. The accelerator invests US$200,000, according to Diario Financiero. [2]
  4. 25 August 2024CAn archived home page shows the product as conversational AI with multiple GPT assistants on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, and a free sign-up. [13]
  5. November 2024CA round of US$3.85 million closes, led by Monashees. The pricing page lists Starter at US$145 and Advanced at US$395 a month. [2, 11]
  6. 4 and 9 December 2024DDiario Financiero and LatamList report US$1 million in ARR and 375 or more than 300 clients. Diario Financiero reports about 30 employees. [1, 2]
  7. 2 April 2025CThe CEO writes that the company opened its office in Mexico City with a team of 10 people. [17]
  8. 2 July 2025CA VP of Technology, the first software engineer, writes that the team now has more than 50 people. [16]
  9. End of September 2025CThe US$14 million Series A closes, led by Monashees. Cathay Latam, Atlantico and Tekton Ventures join. [3]
  10. 3 December 2025CThe round is announced. The CEO of Rappi joins the board. Diario Financiero reports 80 employees and more than 1,000 active clients. [3, 4]
  11. 3 June 2026CA Vambe partner specialist writes that the team grew from about 15 people when she joined to more than 170. [18]
  12. 19 August 2026DForbes Chile reports, citing the company, more than US$11 million in ARR and a June record of US$1.7 million in new ARR. It also reports more than 180 people. [5]
  13. 11 September 2026CThe company's own file gives almost 200 people, more than 2,500 companies and US$18.4 million raised in total. [7]

What could go wrong for Vambe?

The risks are the mirror image of the causes above.

What is not verified

The headline of more than US$11 million in ARR rests on one company statement, reported by Forbes Chile on 19 August 2026. The article gives no date for the figure. No payment-processor profile, filing or second interview was found. A reader could look for a TrustMRR-style profile, an audited statement or a second report with a date.

The funding figures differ between sources

LatamList and Diario Financiero reported US$3.85 million in late 2024, and Diario Financiero and Bloomberg Línea reported a US$14 million Series A in December 2025. The company's file says US$18.4 million in total and dates the Series A to the end of 2024. The total is about US$0.55 million above the two rounds. Diario Financiero also reported US$200,000 from the SkyDeck accelerator and an earlier seed investment of unstated size.

The team counts differ between sources

Diario Financiero said about 30 employees on 4 December 2024. The same newspaper said 18 people on 3 December 2025 when it looked back to that time. Forbes Chile said the team went from 22 to more than 180 in “poco más de un año” (translation: just over a year). That does not fit the count of more than 50 people in the July 2025 staff post. Either way the team was small at US$1 million in ARR.

Counters, logo wall and customer quotes on the home page

The home page counters are the company's own and carry no date. The page shows “+2.500 empresas confían en Vambe” (translation: more than 2,500 companies trust Vambe). The about page says “+2.000 Empresas” and the services page says “+1,500 organizaciones”. Diario Financiero reported more than 1,000 active clients in December 2025. The home page also states more than 60 million automated conversations, 400,000 booked appointments and 500,000 orders, with no source. A wall of more than 40 customer logos has no source. Three customer quotes carry a name and a company, and two carry a role. No outside source confirms the logos or the quotes.

Ratings and security badges

The home page shows a rating of 4.9 beside a Capterra logo and 4.5 beside a Google logo. Neither rating links to a listing, and neither listing was read. The page shows SOC 2 and ISO 27001 badges. Vambe's security page says an independent auditor checks both each year, and that both are managed with Drata. It names no auditor and shows no certificate. The footer also shows Meta Business Partner and NVIDIA Inception badges.

Customer results are the company's own

The customer results on Vambe's pages are the company's own. The client-story page calls its cases “verificados” (translation: verified), and the awards page lists results chosen by the company. The home page states three times more conversions and 50% better return on ad spend, with no source. It also offers a money-back guarantee. The services page says the refund applies when no measurable improvement shows in the first 60 days. No outside party confirmed these figures.

Mass messaging and AI calls

Vambe sells outbound AI calls and mass sends, and leaves consent to its customers. A 2024 archived page says the product can send mass campaigns to a contact database. The add-ons page lists outbound AI calls, mass email to the customer's own contacts and automatic replies to comments on social posts. The terms forbid unsolicited commercial messages and make the customer responsible for consent. A June 2026 post describes AI calls and names cold contact as a case where text is not enough. The security page says telling people that the assistant is an AI is not a legal duty in Chile. It adds that telling them is “siempre es recomendable” (translation: always advisable). No page read promises that people will not notice the AI.

Earlier product and start date

Diario Financiero says the company began as a debt-collection tool in mid-2023. It also says the founders worked on the project at weekends before that. The company's own pages say 2023, and its about page tells the start as WhatsApp sales. The archived home page of 25 August 2024 already uses the name Vambe and still lists collections among the uses. The live pages read do not offer debt collection. No company register was read, and no earlier company name or older domain was found. The earliest Internet Archive capture of the domain is from 14 July 2024.

Sources

The grade next to each source is the best grade that the source can support. "Read in full" means that the text of the page was downloaded and the numbers were checked in it.

  1. C LatamList, 9 December 2024: Vambe raises $3.85M in a round led by Monashees
    Read in full. A short press note. Source for the US$3.85 million round and the ARR of over US$1 million, with no named speaker for the ARR.
  2. C Diario Financiero, 4 December 2024: Cómo Vambe levantó US$ 3,8 millones para su chatbot
    Read in full, in Spanish. An interview with the CEO. Source for the start in mid-2023, the earlier debt-collection product, the first customer, the round and the team size.
  3. C Diario Financiero, 3 December 2025: Vambe cierra serie A de US$ 14 millones con Monashees, Cathay y fundador de Rappi
    Read in full, in Spanish. Source for the Series A, its closing date, the 18 and 80 people, the Mexico office and the client counts.
  4. C Bloomberg Línea, 3 December 2025: Startup chilena Vambe cerró ronda de US$14 millones y suma a CEO de Rappi a su Junta Directiva
    Read in full, in Spanish. A second report of the Series A and the board change.
  5. C Forbes Chile, 19 August 2026: Chilena Vambe proyecta superar los US$ 2 millones en nuevas ventas mensuales
    Read in full, in Spanish. The only source of the headline: more than US$11 million in ARR, the June record and the team of more than 180. It repeats the company's statement.
  6. C El Ecosistema Startup, 22 August 2026: Vambe proyecta US$2M/mes en nuevas ventas con IA en LATAM
    Read in full, in Spanish. A retelling of the Forbes Chile report. It places the US$11 million at the end of the first half of 2026; it is not an independent source.
  7. C Vambe llms.txt, updated 11 September 2026
    Read in full, in Spanish. The company's own summary for AI systems. Source for the founders' titles, US$18.4 million raised, almost 200 people and 2,500 companies.
  8. C Vambe about page: Sobre Nosotros, read 11 November 2026
    Read in full, in Spanish. Source for the 3 founders, the offices in Chile, Mexico and Brazil, and the company's own timeline.
  9. C Vambe home page, read 11 November 2026
    Read in full, in Spanish. Source for the product description, the counters, the badges and the three customer quotes.
  10. C Vambe pricing page, read 11 November 2026
    Read in full, in Spanish. It lists no prices and offers a free consultation and a custom plan.
  11. C Internet Archive copy of the Vambe pricing page, 12 November 2024
    Read in full, in English. Source for the Starter and Advanced prices and limits of November 2024.
  12. C Internet Archive copy of the Vambe pricing page, 20 May 2025
    Read in full, in English. Source for the three plans, the extra-conversation fee and the setup fee of May 2025.
  13. C Internet Archive copy of the Vambe home page, 25 August 2024
    Read in full, in English. Shows the product, the free sign-up and the mass-campaign feature in August 2024.
  14. C Vambe terms of service, updated 2 November 2026
    Read the sections on the AI providers, messaging, consent and spam. In Spanish. The Spanish text is the binding version.
  15. C Vambe privacy policy, updated 2 November 2026
    Read the sub-processor list and the section on minors. In Spanish.
  16. C Vambe Reads, 2 July 2025: Innovando con IA: más allá de prompts
    Read in full, in Spanish. A post by a Vambe VP of Technology. Source for more than 50 people and the engineering set-up.
  17. C Vambe Reads, 2 April 2025: Desde el sur del mundo: Primera parada ¡CDMX!
    Read in full, in Spanish. A post by the CEO on the Mexico City office with a team of 10 people.
  18. C Vambe Reads, 3 June 2026: Crecer junto a algo grande
    Read in full, in Spanish. A post by a Vambe partner specialist: about 15 people when she joined, more than 170 now.
  19. C Vambe careers page, read 11 November 2026
    Read the heading section, in Spanish. It shows “+120 personas en CL y MX”; the number is undated and lower than the other 2026 counts.
  20. C Vambe AI Impact Awards 2026 page, read 11 November 2026
    Read in full, in Spanish. Company-chosen customer results. Not used for any figure; cited for the note on customer results.
  21. C Vambe Reads, 11 March 2026: De 200k a 50k: Cómo volvimos a Panda AI más rápido
    Read in full, in Spanish. A post by a founder about the assistant for customers and its prompt size.
  22. C Vambe Reads, 6 May 2026: Claude code, mi nuevo mejor amigo
    Read in full, in Spanish. A post by a Vambe employee on using Claude Code for internal tools.
  23. C Vambe Reads, 3 June 2026: AI Calls: Cuando el chat ya no es suficiente
    Read in full, in Spanish. A post by a Vambe engineer on the voice product and its parts.
  24. C Database of failed startups, local export
    Record pages read on the website on the day of writing. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.
  25. C Vambe legal and security page, read 11 November 2026
    Read in full, in Spanish. Source for the audit statement on SOC 2 and ISO 27001. Also the source for the answer on telling people that the assistant is an AI.
  26. C Vambe add-ons page, read 11 November 2026
    Read the add-on descriptions in the page data, in Spanish. Source for outbound AI calls, mass email and comment replies.
  27. C Vambe services page, read 11 November 2026
    Read in full, in Spanish. Source for the 60-day refund term and the counter “+1,500 organizaciones”.

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