LeapXpert Brings Governed WhatsApp Client Messaging Into Cisco Webex

Webex messaging has mostly run between colleagues at the same company, while chats employees have with clients tend to happen in consumer apps outside the employer’s control. WhatsApp is the first external network LeapXpert is bringing into the platform, with others to follow.

Because the integration runs on Webex credentials employees already have, no second login is needed to text an outside WhatsApp contact from a desktop or phone. Each message passes through data loss prevention in either direction, so a client’s reply gets the same screening as the employee’s original note. LeapXpert keeps the complete conversation for archiving.

The companies said the tie-up brings governed consumer messaging within reach of tens of millions of business users, since Webex is used at about 300,000 organizations, including nearly every Fortune 500 company. Cisco has been tightening controls inside Webex, adding compliance management and artificial intelligence governance features as part of a June product push.

Avi Pardo, co-founder and chief business officer at LeapXpert, said clients picked messaging apps because that is where they want to be, and firms that cannot govern those conversations are “carrying risk they can’t see.” He called the partnership LeapXpert’s way of closing that gap for Webex customers.

LeapXpert already supports Slack and Microsoft Teams in the same way, along with its own chat app. Relationship managers can also use Maxen, which the company launched in 2024 to pull generative AI insights from client conversations.

The Webex deal comes just over three months after the New York-based startup raised $180 million in a growth round led by Riverwood Capital, with existing investor Portage Ventures also taking part. The money was earmarked first for expansion in financial services and government. Lloyds Bank plc and SoftBank Group Corp. are among the hundreds of businesses on LeapXpert’s customer list.

The integration is available now on the Webex App Hub and requires a Webex license plus a Leap Work account from LeapXpert. LeapXpert is demonstrating it this week at Cisco’s WebexOne conference, which opened in Austin, Texas, and runs through Thursday.

Editor’s Summary: LeapXpert and Cisco have made WhatsApp client messaging available inside Webex with compliance screening and archiving, using existing Webex logins. The integration targets a gap in governed client communications and follows LeapXpert’s $180 million funding round. It is available through the Webex App Hub with a Webex license and a Leap Work account.