With acquisition of Diago, Moroccan retail-tech firm Chari extends to Ivory Coast
With the acquisition of the Ivory Coast-based software Diago, the Moroccan retail-tech firm Chari has launched its growth into Sub-Saharan Africa.
Chari, founded in 2020 by Ismael and Sophia Belkhayat, allows traditional Moroccan local business operators to order things and have them delivered. It now works with more than half of Casablanca’s proximity retailers, has expanded into Tunisia, and announced the acquisition of mobile credit book service Karny in August.
The startup, which was a part of the Y Combinator S21 cohort, obtained a $5 million seed round late last year and received further funding in January. It is now expanding further, with the 100% acquisition of Diago, an app that connects neighbourhood businesses to FMCG makers and importers in the Ivory Coast.
Diago is a company based in Abidjan that was founded in 2021 by Amidou Diarra and Ali Ouattara, two former managers at Glovo and PepsiCo. Diarra and Outtara will continue to serve as CEO and COO, respectively, and will manage local business growth before expanding the app’s reach to additional nations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Diago’s entire team will receive Chari’s full support functions. Chari’s Casablanca back office will help the Diago team in setting up operations, IT tools and customer service,” said Cyrille Jacques, vice president of Chari in charge of leading international expansion.
Chari intends to become a leader in its area across Francophone Africa after a successful proof of concept in Morocco.
“The secret of a successful expansion is to build a local team that masters local market dynamics. The real challenge is to convince local entrepreneurs to join forces with Chari to grow faster. We continue to surround ourselves with young and ambitious entrepreneurs from Francophone Africa to build together a pan-African giant of FMCG and financial services distribution,” said Ismael Belkhayat, co-founder and CEO of Chari.
