Moroccan B2B eCommerce and Fintech startup, Chari, valued at $70mn, secures $5mn seed round
After completing the summer‘21 batch of Y Combinator, Chari announces the closing of a $5mn seed round co-led by Rocket Internet, Global Founders Capital, and P1 ventures.
Some of the other investors who participated in this round are Plug and Play, Y combinator, Village Capital / MetLife Foundation, Orange Ventures, Air Angels – Airbnb investors, SPE Capital, Pincus Private Equity, Reflect Ventures, The Chandaria family, Michael Lahyani, CEO and founder of Propertyfinder, and the management company of an American Ivy League University.
This is the first time many of these investors, including GFC, PnP, Orange, Village Capital… have invested in a startup in Morocco.
‘We have carefully selected the VCs of this seed round based on their ability to help us build a great business. We are now focusing on achieving our short-term targets to raise a significant Serie A in six to nine months’ said Ismael Belkhayat, Cofounder and CEO of Chari, and a Cornell University and BCG Alumni.
The post YC funding took four weeks to close, and the round values Chari at $70 million. The investor’s excitement to Chari comes as the startup addresses the procurement issues of the 300k grocery stores of Morocco and Tunisia.
‘We are happy to lead the way of the nascent Moroccan startup ecosystem. We hope that this seed round will be one the first of a long series of noticeable seed funding in Moroccan Startups’ said Sophia Alj, Cofounder and COO of Chari, and a McGill University and McKinsey Alumni.
Read also: Egyptian delivery startup Appetito, secures US$2mn funding round
Chari partners with FMCG Multinationals and local manufacturers to distribute their goods to local mom and pop shops in less than 24h. It also provides payment facilities and financial services through the recent acquisition of Karny.ma
The money raised will be used to expand Chari and Karny to French-Speaking Africa. In addition, Chari plans to embed financial services such as digital payment, money transfer, and BNPL in its product roadmap.
What You Need To Know About Chari.co
Chari is an eCommerce platform for grocery stores. It allows the shop owners to order anything they sell in their shops and get delivered on the next day.
Chari has a footprint in Morocco and Tunisia and is building the e-commerce platform for all the retailers across French Speaking Africa.
It was founded in early 2020 by the wife and husband Sophia Alj and Ismael Belkhayat, two regional Endeavor Entrepreneurs, graduates from McGill and Cornell University, and ex-strategy consultants from McKinsey and BCG.
Chari has been named startup of the year 2020 by the French Telecom Operator Orange. In 2021, Chari got accelerated by Plug n Play, Station F, and Y Combinator before announcing the acquisition of the Moroccan fintech credit book Karny.ma
