Multi-channel messenger Unipile piles on €1.5 million

Parisian startup Unipile has raised €1.5 million in a first funding round. The multi-channel communications platform intends to use the capital to recruit 12 new staff members over the next 6 months to fuel an accelerated product development roadmap and rollout, all aimed at the US market.

Unipile’s €1.5 million was provided by the Public Bank of France and 25 undisclosed angel investors.

Have a quick look at your desktop right now. More so, how many tabs do you have open? Me, 16, and that’s after having closed I don’t know how many not 20 minutes ago. We all have it - Gmail, outlook, fb messenger, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Google Calendar, etc. etc. etc. And for as hard as chrome/safari/firefox try to make it to easier to find which tab is blinking/speaker iconing/or knock knock knocking at us, if you’re like me, you’re getting lost and losing time.

How about one central service (be that browser-based or desktop app) that would roll them all into one location? One location that would be instantly recognisable to find?

Time saver/productivity booster, right? Well, as with what will probably appear in my salad next week, how about we toss in some GPT-3 AI that will help you respond to all of those messages even more productively? Well dear friends, there you have Unipile.

The free version of the service includes the grouping of 2 email accounts, 2 instant messengers, 1 Google calendar, and 1 mobile with calls and SMS (soon). Bump that up to a fiver a month per person and Unipile will give you an unlimited variety of the former options.

Now while Unipile says it’s the “first all-in-one application that meets the challenge of centralised messaging”, I beg to differ. 

While Unipile was founded in 2020, one example I can think of off the top of my head is that of Austrian forerunner (by a full 4 years (and cheaper)) Franz will do just about everything Unipile will, save for mobile integrations and GPT-3 functionality. 

I’ve personally been using Franz for at least 4 years now, and have never even needed all the features the $3.99/month plan offers, but I send them some dosh every month because I find the service of value. 

The only discernable difference, other than the pricing and the VC backing, I can see between the two is that Unipile does have mobile connectivity and the GPT-3 integration. 

Franz, your move.