Donna, an AI-based assistant that enables sales professionals on the go to focus on selling, has raised €1.6 million from US and European investors. The round includes investments from Pitchdrive, Everywhere ventures, Fortino, Syndicate One, WeLoveFounders, among others. 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.
The Ghent-based startup was co-founded by Nicolas Christiaen (co-CEO), Jonas Deprez (co-CEO), Xander Berkein (CTO), Lander T’Kindt (CPO) and startup studio StarApps. Xander previously served as Team Lead within Belgian-based unicorn Deliverect, and Lander worked at StarApps, which has produced successful startups like Realo and Bizzy. Nicolas founded the fintech company Cashforce, which he sold to German payment platform TIS in 2022. Jonas launched the retail data company Daltix, which was acquired by Colruyt Group in 2023.
“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,” said Jonas Deprez, co-CEO and co-founder of Donna.
That’s why these seasoned entrepreneurs are launching ‘Donna’, an AI-powered sales assistant that helps sales professionals on the go before, during and after every sales interaction. Since these salespeople are frequently on the move, Donna calls them to accurately update their CRM system and initiate next steps.
The AI startup, founded late last year, already has 200 active users and has attracted interest from leading companies in the foodservice 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,” added 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 seamlessly with popular CRM tools like Salesforce and HubSpot.
Angel investors in Donna include Jorn Vanysacker (Henchman, Intuo), Gilles Mattelin (Henchman, Intuo), Felix Van de Maele (Collibra), Willem Delbare (Aikido, Officient, Teamleader), Matthias Geeroms (Lighthouse), Anthony De Clerck (Dovesco), Gino Engels (Lighthouse), Mattias Putman (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 Meyns (Piesync), Jeroen De Wit (Teamleader), Rodrigue Delépine (Comiti PR).
