Chari, the YC-backed startup founded in 2020 by husband-and-wife duo Ismael Belkhayat (ex-BCG) and Sophia Alj (ex-McKinsey), has closed a $12M Series A round—the largest Series A ever raised in Morocco. The round was led by SPE Capital and Orange Ventures, with participation from Verod-Kepple, Global Founders Capital, Plug and Play, Endeavor Catalyst, Pincus Capital, Al Khwarizmi Ventures, UM6P Ventures, Axian Group, Uncovered fund, AfriMobility, P1 Ventures, Reflect Ventures, Dragon Capital, MyAsia VC, Harambean prosperity fund and H&S Invest holding.
In addition, several high-profile business angels joined the round, including Michael Lahyani (Founder of Property Finder) and Karim Beguir (Founder of InstaDeep). This latest funding brings Chari’s total fundraise to $17M.
A landmark license from Morocco’s Central Bank
Chari has also become the first VC-backed startup in Morocco to be granted a payment institution license by Bank Al-Maghrib, the country’s central bank.
This license enables Chari to offer a full suite of financial services to its existing user base of grocery stores, independent shop owners, retailers, and SMEs, including:
-Acquiring services via POS terminals and payment gateways
-Issuing payment accounts, Moroccan IBANs, and debit cards
-Domestic money transfers, international remittances, bill payments, and e-government services
-Distribution of micro-insurance products
With this license, Chari is now positioned to transform its e-commerce platform into a merchant super app. Through a single app, Moroccan merchants are able to order FMCG products, accept digital payments, check balances, pay suppliers, transfer money, and pay bills on behalf of their customers.
Turning shops into financial hubs
“This is a unique opportunity to turn traditional grocery stores into local points of sale for financial services,” said Sophia Alj, Co-Founder of Chari. “It will help shopkeepers digitize their flows, increase their revenues, and compete more effectively with modern retail chains.”
“Over the past three years, Chari has built in-house the full technology stack required to operate under its financial institution license,” added Ismael Belkhayat, Co-Founder & CEO of Chari. “Now that our rails are fully operational and supporting Chari’s needs, we are opening them to third parties. This marks the beginning of Chari’s Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) offering.”