Alex from Papercups here :)

My guess is partially what vardaro mentioned (to hedge their bets), and partially because the space is really, really "wide" (not sure if that's the right word) in the sense that products like this could go in a million different directions... for example: email marketing, CRM, session reply, chatbots, etc. etc.

That's to say, even though Papercups and Chatwoot seem pretty similar at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if that changes quite a bit in a year or so!

(Also it's no secret that YC invests in a ton of similar companies :P e.g. our batch alone had at least three video conferencing companies iirc.)

Hey Alex, we use and love Papercups. Very nice to use and a refreshingly simple experience.

I’m guessing it’s a hedge in case one fails