Moroccan B2B e-commerce and fintech company Chari announced the successful closing of a US$12 million Series A funding round.
The round was co-led by SPE Capital and Orange Ventures, with participation from investors including Verod‑Kepple Africa Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Plug and Play, Endeavor Catalyst, and others.
Founded in 2020 by Ismaël Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, Chari initially offered small independent retailers in Morocco a mobile app to order FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) efficiently.
With the new funding and the granting of a payment-institution licence from Bank Al-Maghrib (Morocco’s central bank), Chari is now pivoting toward being a full-fledged merchant “super-app” offering ordering, payments, embedded finance, credit and business-management tools.
What Chari plans to do with the funds:
- Scale its merchant-app network across Morocco (and beyond) and deepen its footprint in the independent retail segment.
- Launch a Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) offering so other platforms and fintechs can embed Chari’s payment, issuing, cards and wallet infrastructure.
- Strengthen technology, logistics and compliance capabilities to support both the e-commerce and fintech dimensions of the business.
The raise marks the largest-ever Series A round announced in Morocco to date, underscoring growing investor confidence in the region’s startup ecosystem and in commerce-plus-finance models targeting underserved merchants.
By combining wholesale procurement (ordering goods) with payments and financial services, Chari is tapping into informal retail networks and merchants often overlooked by traditional chains or conventional banks, potentially unlocking large latent value in North Africa’s retail economy.
The $12 million injection gives Chari momentum at a critical juncture: it now needs to deliver on converting its merchant base into active users of its super-app and embedded-finance features. If successful, Chari may well become a leader in merging commerce and financial services for SMEs in North Africa and perhaps beyond.
Read more on Tech Gist Africa:
Chari, a B2B e-commerce startup in Morocco, has raised $1.5 million
ORA Technologies of Morocco Completes US $7.5 Million Series A Funding Round
PrestaFreedom, a startup offering home services in Morocco, has secured US$1.1 million in funding
