Chari.ma, a Moroccan company that supplies some of what the company stated are 200,000 convenience stores in the country, has completed an acquisition and raised capital, according to published reports and news releases.
Chari’s acquisition is of Karny.ma, a company that helps convenience stores use smartphones to manage credit arrangements with customers, according to Disrupt Africa. Karny.ma has about 15,000 convenience store customers.
“Karny.ma users are the right target for Chari,” Co-Founder and CEO Ismael Belkhayat said, per Disrupt Africa. “We believe there can be many synergies between the two apps and we want to grow both in parallel with the end goal of starting to offer financial services to all of our customers.”
San Francisco-based startup investor and incubator Y Combinator stated on its website: “Chari is an eCommerce and FinTech app for traditional retailers in North Africa allowing them to order any consumer goods they sell and get delivered for free in less than 24 hours. Chari is also a financial services provider for these retailers, offering them micro-credit facilities.”
Chari.ma investors include Plug and Play and Orange Digital Ventures, the venture arm of France’s Orange Telecom, Disrupt Africa reported. Investment amounts weren’t disclosed.
Chari.ma connects retailers in the fast-moving consumer goods sectors to wholesalers that supply the goods the stores sell. The company was co-founded by Belkhayat and Sophia Alj in early 2020.
Belkhayst describes himself in his LinkedIn profile as a “proud Moroccan tech entrepreneur” and Cornell University alumnus. He previously worked at Boston Consulting Group.
Alj, in her LinkedIn profile, describes herself as a former McKinsey consultant and founder of two technology companies.
In other news from Morocco, FinTech startup MosaicLab raised $225,000 in July for the invoice processing platform Konta.
Read more: MosaicLab Raises $225K for Invoice Processing Platform Konta
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