Chari

Chari is a B2B e-commerce and fintech platform founded in 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, headquartered in Casablanca, Morocco. The company serves traditional proximity retailers across French-speaking Africa by enabling them to order consumer goods (600+ SKUs) through a mobile app and receive free delivery within 24 hours, bypassing fragmented traditional supply chains. Chari also provides embedded financial services including microloans, bookkeeping tools, and a closed-loop credit system through its app. In October 2025, Chari raised a $12 million Series A round — the largest in Moroccan startup history — to expand its operations and deepen its fintech capabilities including Chari Pay, a secure payment gateway for its retailer network. The platform has grown to 100 employees and participates in Y Combinator's Summer 2021 batch. Founders Belkhayat (ex-Boston Consulting Group) and Alj (ex-McKinsey) bring strong strategy consulting backgrounds to the company's mission of digital and financial inclusion for small retailers across Africa.