Chari, a Moroccan B2B e-commerce and retail startup, has acquired Axa Credit, the credit arm of Axa Assurance Maroc, for $22 million. The acquisition subject to approval from the Moroccan banking, insurance and antitrust authorities.
Cofounded by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, Chari is a platform that connects mum and pop shops to FMCGs and other manufacturers and allows them to order products that are delivered within 24hours.
The startup is currently operational in Morocco and Tunisia, with the ultimate goal of expanding into every Francophone African country in the coming years.
Axa Assurance Maroc is selling off Axa Credit, its loan subsidiary, because it wants to concentrate on its insurance offering. Many companies bidded to acquire Axa Credit but the Y Combinator-backed startup won because its values aligned with that which the France-based bank had envisioned for its credit arm—to promote financial inclusion in the country.
“We are buying it in cash, using our seed funding, venture debt funds, and our negative working capital to pull the deal through,” Belkhayat said.
According to Belkhayat, the acquisition of Axa Credit will offer Chari the credit license needed to start offering loans at a bigger scale to its customers. “so we can move from closed-loop loans to open-loop loans,” he said.
Commenting, Meryem Chami, the general manager of Axa Morocco, said: “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.”
