• Morocco-based B2B e-commerce platform Chari.ma has acquired its compatriot fintech app Karny.ma to facilitate mobile payment transactions to its customers. The deal came close on the heels of the Chari.ma's latest funding round from Plug and Play, Orange Digital Ventures, and Y combinator.
•  Co-founded by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj in January 2020, Chari.ma directly connects store owners and retailers to wholesalers in the FMCG sector. 
• Chari.ma claims to have a monthly growth rate of more than 10 per cent and plans to end 2021 with a turnover above $20 million.
• Chari.ma is also participating in Y Combinator's 2021 summer batch.

Press release 

Following the announcement of its financing by Plug and Play, the most active Venture Capitalist in Silicon Valley, by Orange Digital Ventures, the venture capital arm of the French telecom operator, and by Y combinator, Chari announces the acquisition of the mobile credit book application: Karny.ma . 

Intending to offer more services to its users, Chari acquired Karny.ma, a phone-based credit book app that allows traditional convenience stores to manage the loans given to their customers.

Available on Google Play, the application allows them to simply record their transactions on their phone, share them with their debtors and thus more easily collect their loans. Founded by two BCG Consultants, Karny.ma has already fifteen thousand monthly active grocery stores using it throughout Morocco. 

"Karny.ma users are the right target for Chari. We believe there can be many synergies between the two apps and we want to grow both in parallel with the end goal of starting to offer financial services to all of our customers" says Ismael Belkhayat, Co-Founder and CEO of Chari. Mobile credit management applications are developing particularly rapidly in developing countries. Two weeks ago, Pakistani startup creditbook announced a $ 1.5M seed round to expand its business to the Southeast Asian region.

As a reminder, Chari is a B2B e-commerce application allowing traditional convenience stores to order whatever they need and get it delivered in less than 24 hours. Chari was incubated within the family holding H&S Invest Holding before joining the ranks of STATION F in Paris. It is currently used by more than ten thousand grocery stores in Morocco. Launched in January 2020 by the duo Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, Chari is experiencing monthly growth of more than 10% and plans to end the year 2021 with a turnover above 20M USD. At the end of 2020, Chari received the African startup of the year award from French telecom operator Orange, in a competition in which more than 500 startups participated.