Belgian AI sales assistant for salespeople on the go 'Donna' raises $1.6M Pre-Seed

Belgian AI-based sales assistant Donna, has raised $1.6 million Pre-Seed funding from US and European investors. 

The software empowers sales professionals to focus on selling while Donna handles the rest, enhancing overall sales productivity.

According to Jonas Deprez, co-CEO and co-founder of Donna, a major challenge for sales professionals on the go, who often make 5-10 prospecting or customer visits daily, is efficiently and accurately entering relevant information into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. 

“Processing a meeting takes an average of 20 minutes, time that could be better spent on selling.”

Founded late last year, Donna already has 200 active users and has attracted interest from leading companies in the food industry, business services, real estate, construction sectors, and some growth capital funds.

It's often not possible to record a conversation at a prospect's location. So Donna calls the salesperson after the visit, collects the necessary information, and automatically updates the CRM. It also drafts a follow-up email to the client or prospect.

‘This reduces the administrative hassle after each sales interaction, giving salespeople more time to sell," says Nicolas Christiaen, co-CEO and co-founder of Donna. 

"With Donna, every salesperson gets their own personal assistant at a fraction of the cost."

Additionally, Donna uses familiar communication channels like WhatsApp, iMessage and email, allowing users to stick with their preferred tools. The AI sales assistant also integrates with popular CRM tools like Salesforce and HubSpot.

Donna is led by serial entrepreneurs Nicolas Christiaen and Jonas Deprez. Christiaen founded the fintech company Cashforce, which he sold to German payment platform TIS in 2022. Deprez launched the retail data company Daltix, which was acquired by Colruyt Group in 2023.

Pitchdrive led the funding alongside Everywhere ventures, Fortino, Syndicate One, WeLoveFounders, and a series of angel investors, including Jorn Vanysacker (Henchman, Intuo) and Frederik Lebeer (Shine BV, Bain & Company).

This pre-seed funding will help the Belgian serial entrepreneurs behind Donna to attract new talent and further accelerate its ambitious rollout in the EU and US.

Lead image: Donna. Photo: uncredited.