Orange Ventures, Orange’s venture capital investment arm, has invested $1 million in Chari’s most recent round of fundraising. On this occasion, Grégoire de Padirac, Partner of Orange Ventures Middle East & Africa, joins Chari’s Supervisory Board.

“We are delighted to have been among the first investors in the Chari adventure, and we look forward to continuing to support the team as it expands into the French-speaking region and the fintech sector. We and Chari believe in the need of digitising local company owners “says Chari’s Grégoire de Padirac.

As a reminder, Chari won the Middle East Africa Seed Challenge presented by Orange Ventures in 2021, which included over 500 technical entrepreneurs from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Jordan.

“Being supported by Orange Ventures since the beginning of our quest is a source of pride for us. The Orange group’s distribution know-how and skills are extremely beneficial to us. We intend to grow into the nations in which Orange operates “According to Ismael Belkhayat, co-founder and CEO of Chari.

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Chari was created in January 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj and was advanced under the family holding business HnS Invest Holding, which supports distribution and logistics start-ups. Chari wants to change the way small businesses receive their supplies. It provides them with a mobile application that allows them to order all of the products they need at their point of sale with a few clicks and a free delivery commitment in less than 24 hours. The application has already attracted over 20,000 food businesses in the kingdom’s major cities.

Ecommerce startup Chari Ecommerce startup Chari

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

The investment fund that is part of the worldwide Endeavor network, called Endeavor Catalyst, has been operating in Morocco since 2014, and they have decided to invest one million dollars in the Moroccan company called Chari.

According to Ismael Belkhayat, who was present at the event, “It is a positive indication to see that known foreign investment funds are interested in Moroccan businesses. This bodes well for a speedy take-off of the Moroccan startup ecosystem.” 

Belkhayat, who helped found the company and currently serves as its chief executive officer, goes on to say that “It is a privilege to welcome Endeavor Catalyst among our investors.” Endeavor Catalyst now counts Y Combinator, Orange, Rocket Internet, and the management fund from Harvard University among its other investors.

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To be more specific, Endeavor Catalyst’s investment is a component of Chari’s Serie A type of fundraising. This fundraising will enable the Moroccan startup to consolidate its continental expansion and begin its shift towards fintech by financing the acquisition of the company Axa Credit, provided that the startup receives the approval of the central bank.

In addition, the Endeavor network had already selected Chari at the beginning of the year 2022 in its list of “outliers” companies, which are the 10% of Endeavor companies with the strongest growth and the greatest impact on their communities.

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In addition, the Endeavor network had already selected Chari at the beginning of the year 2022 in its list of “outliers” companies, which are the 10% of Endeavor companies with the strongest growth and the greatest impact on their communities. Need we point out that Endeavor Catalyst has already invested in more than fifty unicorns around the world, including Glovo, Flutterwave, Brex, Cabify, and Checkout.com?…

Chari is an e-commerce platform designed for local grocery stores in countries in Africa where French is the primary language. This application enables local grocery businesses to stock up on consumer items and take advantage of advantageous payment options.

Endeavor Catalyst Chari Endeavor Catalyst Chari

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexpert