“Can Chari's Bank Al-Maghrib payment institution license and proprietary BaaS stack become the financial infrastructure layer for both Moroccan consumers/retailers and third-party fintechs across Francophone Africa?”
Founded in 2018 as a B2B FMCG ordering app for small Moroccan retailers, Chari secured its Bank Al-Maghrib payment institution license and layered embedded financial services onto its commerce platform — starting with payments (Chari Pay), then micro-insurance and BNPL for retailers. By 2023–2024 the company had pivoted toward becoming a full financial infrastructure play: chari.ma relaunched as a consumer/merchant e-wallet super app, while ChariBaaS (baas.ma) offers white-label BaaS APIs — wallets, Visa card issuing, KYC/KYB, agent CICO — to fintechs, banks, and corporates across Francophone Africa. The strategic bet is that Chari's regulated payment institution license and proprietary card management system (with a Visa Associate License sponsored by Bank of Africa) can underpin both its own super app and a B2B infrastructure business.
Chari discloses Chari Money (in-house) as its banking provider, with Bank of Africa as its sponsor bank, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Chari does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Bank of Africa.
Chari processes payments through Chari Pay (self-operated).
Chari's cards are issued through Chari (in-house CMS) on the Visa network.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 6 layers in Chari's stack: Payments / PSP (Chari Pay (self-operated)); Banking / BaaS (Chari Money (in-house)); Card issuing (Chari (in-house CMS)); Card network (Visa); Lending (BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) for retailers, Micro-credit for B2B retailers and Micro-insurance); Sponsor bank (Bank of Africa).
Chari is founded in 2018 and headquartered in Casablanca (Bouskoura), Morocco.
Chari has raised $8.8M in total (latest round: Series A; valuation: $100M (bridge round, January 2022)).
Chari's acquisitions include Karny.ma (2021).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Chari and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.