November 5, 2025 - DisrupTech Ventures has made its first Moroccan investment and second Pan-African transaction by backing Y-Combinator startup Chari. The funding is part of Chari’s Series A extension round.

Founded in 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, Chari has built a licensed fintech platform that turns thousands of neighborhood shops into access points for digital payments and financial services. By leveraging its payment institution license from the Central Bank of Morocco, Chari is enabling merchants to function as financial hubs for their communities, giving consumers access to services that were previously out of reach. DisrupTech Ventures is leading this change by investing in Chari and holding a board seat to support the company’s fintech-driven growth strategy.

With over 20,000 retailers already onboarded, Chari is scaling rapidly to become the go-to platform for both commerce and financial services in Francophone Africa.