Chari raises $12 million Series A co-led by SPE Capital and Orange Ventures

Chari has raised a $12 million Series A co-led by SPE Capital, a Tunis-based private equity firm, and Orange Ventures, the venture arm of telecoms operator Orange. Launch Base Africa reported on 15 October. Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV), Plug and Play, Endeavor Catalyst and Pincus Capital Management also took part. The round follows an earlier $1.5 million seed.

What Chari does

The Casablanca company started by digitising procurement for small independent shops, letting them order consumer goods online for delivery. It is now adding payments, bookkeeping, bill payment and insurance services. Ismael Belkhayat is chief executive and Sophia Alj is chief operating officer, and they co-founded Chari in 2020. It is a Y Combinator S21 alumnus.

The banking plan

Chari plans to offer its fintech infrastructure to other companies as a Banking-as-a-Service platform, and aims to become the first such provider in Morocco. "We are building a BaaS platform to power the next generation of digital finance," said Sophia Alj, co-founder and chief operating officer.

Use of funds

The money will expand services for local retailers, build out the API-based platform and strengthen the infrastructure needed to support partners that embed financial products.

At a glance

• Company: Chari
• Raised: $12 million
• Round or Type: Series A
• Lead/Investors: SPE Capital and Orange Ventures (co-leads), VKAV, Plug and Play, Endeavor Catalyst, Pincus Capital
• Founded: 2020
• Based in: Casablanca, Morocco
• Key number: $1.5 million prior seed round