Nigerian technology startup 3650HQ has launched a customer-conversation platform aimed at helping businesses manage WhatsApp sales and customer service more efficiently as new charges on the WhatsApp Business Platform increase operating costs for companies that communicate with customers at scale.
Meta introduced changes to WhatsApp Business Platform pricing from October 1, 2026, including charges for service messages beyond a monthly allowance of 1,000 delivered service messages per business phone number. The changes apply to businesses using the platform and not to ordinary WhatsApp users or businesses using the free WhatsApp Business application.
The new pricing has increased attention on how Nigerian businesses handle large volumes of customer conversations, particularly companies that use WhatsApp to receive enquiries, process orders, provide support and communicate with buyers.
3650HQ says its platform is designed to bring those activities into a single workspace rather than requiring businesses to switch between different applications and manually track conversations, payments and deliveries.
The platform combines WhatsApp Business with Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and email in a unified inbox. According to the company, teams can assign and manage conversations, respond to customers, generate invoices, receive payments and arrange deliveries without leaving the conversation workspace.
Pay-as-you-use model
One of the platform’s key features is its pricing model. Rather than charging businesses a conventional monthly subscription or per-agent fee, 3650HQ uses a prepaid credit system.
The company’s current pricing page says businesses can start with 50 free credits and then purchase additional credits as needed. It lists different rates for activities including WhatsApp replies, outbound templates and campaigns, inbound messages, artificial-intelligence-assisted replies and voice-note transcription.
The company says the approach is intended to make costs more closely reflect actual usage, with businesses able to add credits when necessary rather than paying a fixed monthly platform fee.
Payments and order management
Beyond messaging, 3650HQ is positioning itself as a social-commerce platform for businesses that sell through conversations.
The company says merchants can generate an invoice within a customer conversation and receive a dedicated virtual bank account for the specific order. Once payment is verified, the invoice is automatically marked as paid. The company says the system uses Monnify’s payment infrastructure for the virtual accounts.
The platform also integrates delivery options, allowing merchants to arrange courier services after an order has been paid for.
Another feature allows voice notes received from customers to be converted into text. 3650HQ says its transcription system supports English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Swahili and Zulu.
Built around official WhatsApp infrastructure
3650HQ says it operates through the official WhatsApp Business Platform rather than unofficial bulk-messaging systems.
The company describes itself as a verified Meta Tech Provider and says its system uses Meta-approved templates. It also says customer data and access tokens are protected with AES-256-GCM encryption and that individual business workspaces are isolated from one another.
WhatsApp itself distinguishes between its free Business app, designed primarily for small businesses managing conversations from a device, and the WhatsApp Business Platform, which is intended for businesses handling larger volumes of customer communication through software and integrations.
The distinction has become particularly important following Meta’s latest pricing changes.
For Nigerian businesses that rely heavily on WhatsApp as a sales and customer-service channel, the emergence of platforms such as 3650HQ reflects a broader shift towards tools that combine messaging, payment collection, sales management and delivery into a single digital workflow.
As WhatsApp continues to evolve from a messaging service into a major business and commerce channel, Nigerian technology companies are increasingly developing infrastructure around the platform to help merchants manage both customer relationships and the rising cost of digital engagement.