Chari, a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce startup based in Morocco that offers embedded financing for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, has just raised $1 million.
The additional US$1 million in funding was provided by Orange Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of Orange, an existing investor in the business.
Ismael and Sophia Belkhayat, a husband and wife partnership, founded Chari in 2020 to make it possible for Moroccan proximity store owners to order things and have them delivered.
“We are proud to say that Orange Ventures has backed us from the start of our mission. We greatly benefit from the distribution expertise and capabilities of the Orange group. Ismael Belkhayat, co-founder and CEO of Chari, stated that we wanted to expand into the countries where Orange operates.
The supervisory board of Chari will now include Grégoire de Padirac, a partner with Orange Ventures Middle East and Africa.
“We are honored to have been one of the pioneering investors in the Chari adventure. We look forward to continuing to support the team as it develops into the French-speaking region and the fintech sector. “Chari and I think it’s important to digitize small business owners,” de Padirac stated.
With success in Morocco, the platform has moved to Tunisia and Ivory Coast, where it now serves over 20,000 food businesses.
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