Belgium’s Donna raises €1.5 Million to be the AI Assistant for mobile sales reps

Donna, an AI assistant that allows salespeople on the go to focus on selling, has raised €1.6 million.

The round includes investments from Pitchdrive, Everywhere Ventures, Fortino, Syndicate One, and WeLoveFounders, among other well-known angels. This pre-seed capital will assist Donna’s Belgian serial entrepreneurs in acquiring fresh talent and speeding up their ambitious rollout in the EU and the United States.

Angel investors include Jorn Vanysacker (Henchman, Intuo), Gilles (Henchman, Intuo), Matthias (Lighthouse), Anthony De Clerck (Dovesco), Gino (Lighthouse), Felix Van de Maele (Collibra), Willem Delbare (Aikido, Officient, Teamleader), Mattias (Piesync), Jan Van Hoecke (Ravn Systems), Frederik Lebeer (Shine BV, Bain & Company), Marc Coppens (McCapital, Yuki), Bram Couvreur (Cooley), Hans Kluwer (McCapital), Christophe Morbee (Besox), Ewout (Piesync), Jeroen De Wit (Teamleader), Rodrigue (Comiti PR).

Donna is run by Nicolas Christiaen and Jonas Deprez, two seasoned entrepreneurs from Ghent’s startup community.

According to Jonas Deprez, Donna’s co-CEO and co-founder:

“A major problem for mobile sales personnel, who frequently conduct 5-10 prospecting or client visits per day, is swiftly and accurately entering pertinent information into a Client Relationship Management (CRM) system. Salespeople spend an average of 20 minutes processing a meeting, time they could use more effectively for selling.”

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That’s why these experienced entrepreneurs are developing ‘Donna’, an AI-powered sales assistant that assists sales professionals on the fly before, during, and after each sales engagement. Because these salespeople are constantly on the road, Donna contacts them to update their CRM system precisely and trigger the next steps.

The AI startup founded late last year, now has 200 active users and has piqued the interest of major players in the food service, business services, real estate, and construction industries, as well as certain growth capital funds.

It is frequently impractical to capture a conversation at a prospect’s location. So Donna contacts the salesman following the visit, gathers the appropriate information, and immediately updates the CRM. It also creates a follow-up email for the client or prospect.

Nicolas Christiaen, Donna’s co-CEO and co-founder, explained:

“This reduces the administrative hassle after each sales interaction, giving salespeople more time to sell. With Donna, every salesman has their assistant for a fraction of the expense.”

Donna also leverages common communication methods such as WhatsApp, iMessage, and email, allowing users to continue with their favorite tools. The AI sales assistant also works smoothly with common CRM platforms such as Salesforce and HubSpot.

Image Credit: Donna