Moroccan Fintech Chari Raises $12 Million in Series A to Fuel Merchant Super-App & BaaS Ambitions

Morocco’s rising fintech startup Chari has successfully closed a $12 million Series A funding round. The capital injection is earmarked to expand Chari’s merchant super-app offerings and lay the foundations for what could become Morocco’s first Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform.

What is Chari & Why It Matters

Chari (sometimes stylised Châri) is a startup focused on streamlining commerce for small and medium merchants in Morocco. Its aim is to offer an integrated platform combining:

• Inventory and supply chain solutions
• Payments, bill-payments, money transfers, debit cards
• Analytics and merchant lifecycle services

Chari’s ambition is not just to be a marketplace for goods, but to become a full merchant super-app. With its newly granted license from Morocco’s central bank (Bank Al-Maghrib), it can offer a broader set of financial services, and is preparing to open up its rails (infrastructure) to other firms via BaaS. billionaires.africa+1

Details of the Funding & Backers

• Amount raised: $12 million in Series A. billionaires.africa+1
• Use of proceeds: Accelerate product development, scale operations, formalize new financial services (payment accounts, IBANs, cards, etc.), and offer Banking-as-a-Service to third parties. billionaires.africa+1
• Investors: The round was led by SPE Capital and Orange Ventures, with a mix of other local and international investors: Verod-Kepple, Global Founders Capital, Plug & Play, Endeavor Catalyst, among others. billionaires.africa+1
• Regulatory milestone: Chari has become the first VC-backed startup in Morocco to secure a central bank license to operate as a payment institution. This allows it to legally provide many financial services under regulation. billionaires.africa+1

Strategic Implications & Market Landscape

Why this is a Big Deal

• The license and funding combination is rare in the North African fintech scene, particularly for merchant-oriented super-apps.
• Being able to offer banking infrastructure (or embed financial services) gives Chari not just a revenue boost but also more control over margins and operational risk.
• It positions Morocco more strongly in the fintech map for Francophone Africa.

Risks & Challenges

• Regulatory compliance and oversight will become more demanding
• Operational scaling (especially financial & payment operations) tends to expose weaknesses (fraud, infrastructure, liquidity)
• Competition: other fintechs are emerging, local and regional players may push similar business models

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Comparable Fintech Raises in Morocco / North Africa

To help readers see where Chari’s raise sits in the broader landscape, here are several similar recent fintech / fintech-adjacent funding rounds in Morocco / North Africa, and what they suggest about trends.

Startup	Amount Raised	Stage / Notes	Key Focus	Significance
ORA Technologies	$7.5 million (Series A) Dabafinance	July 2025	Superapp (payments, delivery, wallet, etc.), scaling last-mile & digital cash collection in cash-dominant economy. Dabafinance	Shows investor appetite for superapps, especially combining commerce + payments in Morocco.
PayTic	$4 million (Seed extension) Empower Africa+2disruptafrica.com+2	April 2025	SaaS / backend payments operations automation (banks, payment processors). disruptafrica.com+1	Illustrates demand for infrastructure rather than consumer-facing fintech only.
WafR	$1.5 million (Seed) startupresearcher.com+1	Early 2025	Turning small, informal merchants into financial service hubs: cash-in/out, top-ups, remittances. startupresearcher.com+1	Important in financial inclusion; a model tapping local trader / community networks.
Talaty	Undisclosed funding (from Witamax, Renew Capital) disruptafrica.com+1	Late 2024 / early 2025	AI-driven SME lending / credit platform, streamlining risk and making financing more accessible. disruptafrica.com+1	Shows investors are interested in embedded credit / alternative credit risk models in Morocco.

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What the Trends Suggest

From these comparable cases, a few patterns emerge:

1. Super-apps + embedded finance are a hot trend. Chari and ORA are examples where the line between commerce / delivery / merchant services + financial services is blurring.
2. Back-end financial infrastructure (payments reconciliation, automation, operations) is gaining traction (e.g. PayTic). This is a lower-visibility but essential area.
3. Financial inclusion remains a strong theme. Startups like WafR focus on bringing services to small merchants, informal or under-banked areas.
4. Investor base is both local and international. Many of these rounds involve regional VCs, impact investors, and global fintech funds. This signals growing confidence in Moroccan / Francophone Africa fintech.
5. Regulatory progress matters. The fact that Chari is now licensed by the central bank, and that others are either seeking regulatory clarity or building under local regulations, suggests that regulation is catching up with fintech innovation — which tends to unlock more capital and usage.