Chari secures a bridge round at a $100m valuation to pilot BNPL services

Chari, an African startup based in Morocco, has just raised a bridge round at $100 million valuation. The E-commerce and Retail company is one of many start-ups in the B2B e-commerce space that digitises the FMCG market in countries like Morocco and Tunisia. (A bridge round is an interim financing round intended to keep the company afloat until the next, larger financing round.)

The venture capitalists who participated in the round were Khwarizmi Ventures and Air Angels, as well as Afri Mobility, which is part of the AKWA Group. This investment joins current investors (Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, Plug n Play, Orange Ventures, and Harvard University Management Company), who invested $5 million (at a $70 million valuation) in the company in October 2021.

Using Chari (a mobile app), retailers in Morocco and Tunisia can order products from FMCG multinationals and local manufacturers and get them in less than 24 hours. 

Last year, it acquired Karny.ma, a platform that gives credit and bookkeeping services to about 50,000 businesses. In this way, these merchants can keep track of the credit they give to their customers. 

The acquisition of Karny and the subsequent bridge round are consistent with Chari’s goal of providing payment facilities. It enables the organisation to provide its retailers with financial services, specifically buy now, pay later.

Using the money from this bridge round, Chari plans to try out the Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) service with its current customers. If the results are good, the Moroccan B2B e-commerce and retail start-up will acquire a local credit company. It has chosen a few store owners to test its business model and hopes to expand into  Tunisia and other French-speaking countries in Africa when it gets things right in Morocco.