The company that made checkout credit feel almost invisible is building something much larger: a portfolio that follows customers from the shopping cart to payday, savings and everyday banking across Southeast Asia.
Chari is a Moroccan B2B e-commerce and fintech company that turned the country's corner grocery stores into digital customers. Through one app, the traditional shopkeepers who form the backbone of North African retail can order fast-moving consumer goods and get them delivered in under 24 hours, keep their customer credit ledgers, accept card payments, pay bills, and tap embedded financial services. Founded in 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, Chari was the first Moroccan startup admitted to Y Combinator (S21). In October 2025 it raised a $12M Series A - the largest in Morocco's history - and became the first VC-backed Moroccan company to win a payment institution license from the central bank, the foundation for its Banking-as-a-Service platform.