Tech in Africa
Moroccan e-commerce startup Chari.ma has acquired fintech Karny.ma so as to enable mobile money payments to customers. The deal runs close on the heels of Chari.ma’s latest funding round from Plug and Play (most active silicon valley VC), Y combinator, and Orange Digital Ventures (VC arm of the French telecoms giant).
Karny.ma is a phone-based credit book app allowing brick-and-mortar convenience stores to manage customer loans to their customers. The app can be downloaded from Google Play allowing the users to record their transactions via phone, share with debtors, and easily collect the loans. The two founders of Karny.ma are previous BCG consultants and it currently boasts over 15,000 active grocery stores using it monthly across Morocco.
Chari, as a B2B e-commerce application considers the acquisition of Karny.ma as “a right target” according to Ismael Belkhayat, the co-founder and CEO. Chari allows traditional stores to order whatever they want and have it delivered within 24 hours.
