Rabat – Morocco’s B2B e-commerce startup Chari has acquired Axa Assurance Maroc’s loan subsidiary Axa Credit for $22 million.
Co-founded by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj in 2020, the Chari application enables convenience stores “to buy products at unbeatable prices while benefiting from a free delivery service in less than 24 hours.”
The startup currently operates in Morocco and Tunisia but plans to expand to other Francophone African markets. In September, the Moroccan startup succeeded in raising $245,000 over five crowdfunding rounds.
The next month, Forbes reported that Chari had raised $5 million in one of the biggest funding rounds in north Africa.
The funding allowed Chari’s value to increase to $100 million, powering the acquisition of Axa Credit to launch buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services for customers.
The acquisition resulted from Axa Assurance Maroc’s intention to sell Axa Credit in order to focus on its core insurance products. Although multiple companies expressed interest in the loan subsidiary, the Moroccan startup won the bid. Axa and Chari share a similar expressed vision of promoting financial inclusion in Morocco.
Commenting on the news, Ismael Belkhayat told Nigerian startup news outlet TechCabal, “We are buying it in cash, using our seed funding, venture debt funds, and our negative working capital to pull the deal through.”
Read Also: Moroccan Startup Freterium Raises $4 Million in Funding
The deal has not yet entered into force, as Moroccan banking, insurance, and antitrust authorities will now have to approve it. However, the acquisition is pivotal to Chari’s strategy to promote financial inclusion in the country and expand into French-speaking Africa.
“We are thrilled to announce a cross-selling partnership between Axa Insurance Morocco and Chari. This partnership will allow Axa Insurance to keep growing on the Moroccan market and play a central role in financial inclusion,” said Meryem Chami, general manager at Axa Assurance Maroc.
With 70% of the Moroccan population remaining unbanked or underbanked without financial records, Chari provides much-needed services through its application and website Karny.ma as well as Axa credit services in the near future.
In 2021, Chari purchased Moroccan bookkeeping and credit platform Karny.ma which serves roughly 40,000 merchants. The startup concluded the deal after receiving $5 million in seed funding.
Through Karny’s acquisition, Chari gained knowledge on loan-taking and repaying by end-consumers since small Moroccan merchants use Karny (notebook) to track their cash flow.
As a two-year-old Moroccan startup, Chari has the potential to obtain unicorn status by reaching a valuation of $1 billion, as it expands into Francophone African markets.
Read Also: OCP Expands Innovation Challenge for Local, African, International Startups
