Chari

High-Level Overview

Chari is a Casablanca-based B2B e-commerce and fintech platform that transforms traditional neighborhood shops across French-speaking Africa into digitally-enabled retail and financial services hubs[1]. Founded in 2020, the company serves a fragmented market of mom-and-pop stores by offering a unified mobile application that handles inventory procurement, payment processing, credit management, and financial services—all through a single platform[2][4].

The startup addresses a critical gap in African retail infrastructure: small retailers lack efficient supply chain access and financial tools to scale their operations. Chari solves this by enabling free, next-day delivery of FMCG products and embedding financial services directly into the merchant experience[1][4]. Currently, the platform serves 15,000 merchants on its e-commerce platform, 5,000 through payment services, and 20,000 users via its credit management app Karny across Morocco, Tunisia, and Ivory Coast[1]. The company demonstrates strong growth momentum, with operations expanding across three countries and plans to enter additional markets including Senegal, Ghana, and Cameroon[4].

Origin Story

Chari was founded in January 2020 by husband-and-wife team Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, who identified an opportunity to digitize the largely fragmented FMCG sector in North Africa[1][6]. The founders began by incubating the company within Dislog Group before joining STATION F Paris, a leading startup hub[6]. Their early traction was remarkable: by mid-2021, Chari was registering monthly growth exceeding 10% and had already attracted attention from major investors[6].

The company's evolution reflects strategic market insight. Initially launched as a wholesale marketplace for small shops to order consumer goods, Chari quickly recognized the opportunity to leverage its merchant relationships and distribution network to expand into embedded financial services[1]. A pivotal moment came when the startup secured a payment institution license from Bank Al-Maghrib, Morocco's central bank, validating its fintech ambitions and enabling it to offer digital payments, Moroccan IBANs, money transfers, debit cards, and micro-insurance[1]. The company also acquired Karny, a digital ledger application that helps retailers track credit and collections, further strengthening its financial services offering[4].

Recognition came early: Chari won the African Startup of the Year award from Orange in 2020, competing against over 500 applicants[6]. The company joined Y Combinator's Summer 2021 batch, with the accelerator acquiring a 7% stake[6].

Core Differentiators

Integrated Platform Architecture

Chari's primary strength lies in its unified ecosystem that combines e-commerce, payments, and credit management in a single application[1][4]. Rather than forcing merchants to juggle multiple vendors, the platform consolidates supply chain and financial operations, reducing friction and increasing adoption among traditionally underserved retailers.

Regulatory Foundation

The payment institution license from Morocco's central bank represents a significant competitive moat[1]. This regulatory credential enables Chari to offer services that competitors cannot, including issuing Moroccan IBANs and providing formal financial products—critical for building trust with both merchants and institutional partners.

Banking-as-a-Service Model

Beyond serving merchants directly, Chari is launching a BaaS infrastructure that allows other startups and corporates to integrate financial services into their platforms[1]. This positions the company as a financial infrastructure provider, not just a merchant-facing application, creating multiple revenue streams and network effects.

Distribution Network Leverage

The company's existing relationships with 15,000+ merchants provide a ready-made distribution channel for financial services[1]. This eliminates the typical chicken-and-egg problem that fintech startups face when building merchant networks from scratch.

Multi-Country Presence

Operating across Morocco, Tunisia, and Ivory Coast demonstrates the model's scalability across different regulatory environments and market conditions[1][4]. This geographic diversification reduces dependency on any single market.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Chari exemplifies a broader trend reshaping African fintech: the shift from consumer-focused digital payments toward embedded financial services for underserved business segments. While much attention has focused on mobile money and consumer wallets, Chari identifies a more fundamental opportunity—the digitization of informal retail, which represents the backbone of African commerce.

The timing is particularly favorable. African governments are increasingly supportive of fintech innovation, as evidenced by Morocco's willingness to grant payment licenses to startups[1]. Simultaneously, FMCG manufacturers and logistics providers are investing in last-mile distribution infrastructure, creating the supply-side conditions for platforms like Chari to operate efficiently. The combination of regulatory openness, infrastructure investment, and merchant demand creates a rare convergence.

Chari also rides the wave of B2B fintech expansion across emerging markets. While consumer fintech has matured in many regions, B2B financial services remain largely untapped. Small retailers represent a massive addressable market with minimal access to formal credit, inventory financing, or payment infrastructure. By targeting this segment, Chari addresses a market failure that traditional banks have historically ignored.

The company's influence extends beyond its direct operations. By demonstrating that informal retailers can be profitably served through technology, Chari influences how other startups and established players approach African retail. The BaaS model, in particular, could catalyze an ecosystem of financial services built on Chari's infrastructure, similar to how Stripe or Adyen operate in developed markets.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Chari has executed a textbook pivot from e-commerce to fintech, using its merchant relationships as a springboard into financial services. The $12 million Series A funding round in October 2025, co-led by SPE Capital and Orange Ventures, validates this strategy and provides runway for geographic expansion[1]. The company's ambition to become "the reference wallet, microcredit and remittance platform for all French-speaking African countries and the African diaspora" is audacious but grounded in real market dynamics[4].

The critical challenges ahead are regulatory complexity and unit economics. Expanding into new countries means navigating distinct regulatory frameworks—a process that could slow growth if not managed carefully. Additionally, the company must prove that its financial services offerings generate sufficient margins to offset the thin economics of e-commerce logistics.

Looking forward, Chari's trajectory will likely be shaped by three factors: geographic expansion success, BaaS adoption rates, and competitive intensity. If the company can replicate its Morocco model in Senegal, Ghana, and Cameroon while building a meaningful BaaS business, it could become the dominant financial infrastructure layer for informal retail across Francophone Africa. Conversely, if larger fintech players or traditional banks recognize this opportunity and move aggressively downmarket, Chari's window to establish market leadership could narrow.

The company represents a compelling thesis: that the next wave of African fintech growth will come not from consumer apps, but from B2B platforms that digitize informal commerce. Chari is well-positioned to lead this shift, provided it executes on expansion and maintains its regulatory relationships.