DisrupTech Ventures Backs Chari as It Moves into Fintech and Joins Its Board, Marking Second African Investment Outside Egypt
DisrupTech Ventures, a leading early-stage fintech venture capital fund, announces its investment in Chari, a Y Combinator–backed startup that is transforming Morocco’s retail sector into a nationwide fintech network. This marks DisrupTech’s first investment in Morocco and its second in Africa outside of Egypt, underscoring the fund’s growing commitment to supporting fintech innovation across the continent.
Founded in 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, Chari has built a licensed fintech platform that turns thousands of neighborhood shops into access points for digital payments and financial services. By leveraging its payment institution license from the Central Bank of Morocco, Chari is enabling merchants to function as financial hubs for their communities, giving consumers access to services that were previously out of reach.
While its mobile app also allows retailers to order consumer goods from FMCG distributors with rapid delivery, Chari’s mission goes far beyond e-commerce. The company is digitizing financial flows in the informal economy, reducing dependency on cash, providing instant working capital, and embedding insurance and payment solutions directly into merchants’ day-to-day operations. In doing so, Chari is building what could become the financial backbone of Morocco’s informal retail economy.
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Our investment in Chari is a milestone for DisrupTech,” said Mohamed Okasha, Managing Partner at DisrupTech Ventures. “Chari is redefining how financial services are delivered at the grassroots level. By empowering small shops to act as financial gateways, Chari is creating the foundation for a new, inclusive fintech infrastructure in Morocco. This is exactly the kind of transformative model we seek to support across Africa.”
With over 20,000 retailers already onboarded, Chari is scaling rapidly to become the go-to platform for both commerce and financial services in Francophone Africa.
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We are delighted to welcome DisrupTech Ventures as a partner on our journey,” said Ismael Belkhayat, CEO and Co-Founder of Chari. “With DisrupTech’s backing, we are accelerating our mission to turn every corner shop into a financial access point. Together, we will continue to build technologies that drive financial inclusion and economic growth across Africa.”
The investment forms part of Chari’s Series A extension round, and as part of the deal, DisrupTech Ventures will join Chari’s board of directors, working closely with the founding team to advance its regional growth and fintech vision.
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