Moroccan FinTech Chari bags $12m Series A round

October 16, 2025

YC-backed Moroccan FinTech Chari, founded in 2020 by husband-and-wife duo Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, has announced the close of its $12m Series A funding round — the largest Series A ever raised in Morocco, it claims.

The round was led by SPE Capital and Orange Ventures, according to a report from Wamda. Participation also came from a diverse group of investors including 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.

Several notable angel investors also joined the round, including Michael Lahyani, founder of Property Finder, and Karim Beguir, founder of InstaDeep. With this round, Chari’s total funding now stands at $17m.

Chari operates as a digital commerce and financial services platform designed for small retailers, grocery stores, and independent merchants across Morocco.

Alongside its funding announcement, Chari has become the first VC-backed startup in Morocco to receive a payment institution licence from Bank Al-Maghrib, the country’s central bank. This licence enables the company to offer a comprehensive suite of financial services, including point-of-sale acquiring, issuing payment accounts with Moroccan IBANs, debit cards, domestic and international money transfers, bill payments, and the distribution of micro-insurance products.

With this new status, Chari plans to expand its e-commerce operations into a full-fledged merchant super app.

Chari co-founder Sophia Alj said, “This is a unique opportunity to turn traditional grocery stores into local points of sale for financial services. It will help shopkeepers digitise their flows, increase their revenues, and compete more effectively with modern retail chains.”

Chari co-founder and CEO Ismael Belkhayat added, “Over the past three years, Chari has built in-house the full technology stack required to operate under its financial institution licence. 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.”