Participated · Series A · Oct 2025

Founded in 2020 by husband-and-wife team Ismael and Sophia Belkhayat, Chari began as a mobile marketplace enabling corner shops to procure fast-moving consumer goods directly from distributors. The company has since evolved toward a banking-as-a-service model, using its recently obtained payment-institution licence from Bank Al-Maghrib to embed digital payments, credit, and other financial tools inside its merchant app. More than 20,000 small retailers across Morocco, Tunisia, and Côte d’Ivoire now use Chari’s platform, making it one of the region’s largest informal-retail digitisation plays. With a “super app” approach, Chari aims to transform these mom-and-pop stores into grassroots financial access points for underbanked communities. Future plans include opening its in-house financial rails to third-party developers, positioning the startup as a regional fintech enabler across Francophone Africa. To date, Chari has raised roughly $17 million in venture funding, which supports both its commerce logistics operations and the build-out of its fintech infrastructure.

Participated · Series A · Oct 2025

Founded in 2013 by Nour El Assal and Ahmed ElFarnawany, Tagaddod has built a proprietary technology platform that sources renewable feedstocks from thousands of households, restaurants, food manufacturers, and independent collectors. The company operates regional hubs in Egypt, Jordan, and the Netherlands and maintains an active footprint across Africa, Asia, and Europe. Its software stack provides end-to-end traceability, AI-powered logistics optimisation, and compliance features that meet international sustainability standards. By digitising traditionally informal waste supply chains, Tagaddod enables global biofuel and SAF refineries to secure certified, export-grade feedstocks at scale. The business positions itself as an essential link in the fast-growing biofuels market, where feedstock scarcity is a key bottleneck. Backed by impact-oriented investors, Tagaddod plans to channel new capital into expanding market coverage, enhancing its AI-driven technology, and building additional infrastructure to handle higher volumes. The recent $26.3 million Series A provides the financial runway to pursue profitability and long-term leadership in renewable feedstock supply.

Participated · Series A · May 2025

Nawy operates a property listings marketplace alongside brokerage tools (Nawy Partners) that more than 3,000 brokerages use and that attracts over one million monthly visitors. The company has expanded into embedded finance with a mortgage-style product called “Move Now Pay Later” and a fractional ownership product, Nawy Shares, which allows investments from as little as $500. These products diversify revenue and helped Nawy grow revenue more than 50x in dollar terms over the last four years despite currency volatility. Nawy reported profitability and closed 2024 with over $1.4 billion in gross merchandise value, up from $38 million in 2020. The company has also moved into property management via the acquisition and rebrand of ROA as “Nawy Unlocked.” With fresh capital it plans product development, AI integration, regional expansion across North Africa and the Middle East, and acquisitions of smaller companies. Nawy began in 2016 as an AI-driven property-listings platform and has expanded into brokerage services that support the closing of property deals. Last year the startup connected 40,000 buyers to sellers and operates a sales force of more than 200 people. It uses machine learning and other AI tools to pair clients with property, manage its sales team, and provide market insights to speed closings. The company plans to introduce a mortgage service for pre-owned properties to bridge a financing gap left by traditional lenders and intends to expand into rentals and property management to complete a full-suite offering. Nawy also plans to leverage its data to offer real estate advisory services, forge funding partnerships, and provide market insights. The founders initially injected $200,000; the company grew about 30% year-over-year until 2021, then accelerated 400% that year with gross merchandise value rising to $200 million from $40 million.

Participated · Series A · Aug 2024

Workpay offers cloud-based HR, payroll, and benefits solutions tailored to African businesses, serving both single-jurisdiction firms and companies with cross-border employees. Its product set includes payroll, time and attendance tracking, performance management, and modules to layer financial services such as insurance and partner lending/savings. The company has expanded from an initial payroll focus into a fuller HR stack in response to customer needs. Workpay says it serves more than 1,000 customers across 20 African countries and added nearly 500 businesses in the past 16 months. Its revenue grew 1.5x in the first six months of 2024 and the company is on course to double revenue by the end of the year. Leadership includes co-founder and CEO Paul Kimani and co-founder/COO Jackson Kungu. Workpay is a Kenyan, YC-backed full-stack HR and payroll startup founded in 2019. The platform enables employers to pay salaries in local currencies across Africa (and via partners outside the continent), file taxes, process employee benefits, and manage time, attendance, and leave. An employee-facing app lets workers view payslips, request expenses, and apply for leave. Workpay is launching a payroll engine and an API for accounting firms, and is building a marketplace while adding financial services such as investment linkages, medical and asset insurance, and earned-wage access. The company says it has been doubling revenue annually since 2021, serves nearly 700 customers, and handles about $200 million in total payroll value annually. WorkPay is a Kenya-based cloud HR management and payroll solution serving SMBs in Africa. Its platform includes time tracking and salary disbursement tools designed to eliminate ghost workers and reduce inefficiencies tied to cash payments. The company processes payrolls for more than 25,000 employees in Kenya and serves over 300 SMBs on its platform. WorkPay recently raised US$2.1M in seed funding to fuel growth. Management plans to use the investment to scale HR and payroll tools to more SMBs and expand to enterprise clients across East Africa.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2023

Chefaa operates a patient‑focused pharmacy benefits platform that simplifies ordering, scheduling, and refilling recurring insured and non‑insured prescriptions for users and stakeholders in the healthcare chain. The company was founded in 2017 by Drs. Doaa Aref and Rasha Rady and is led by CEO Doaa Aref. Chefaa currently links over one million active users each month to more than 1,100 pharmacies across Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It is operational in eight Saudi cities following a successful launch there and is pursuing faster regional growth. The recent $5.25 million funding is intended to propel expansion and accelerate growth in Saudi Arabia. Management emphasizes designing new services and measuring Chefaa’s impact as it scales. Chefaa is an Egyptian on-demand medicine delivery platform that allows patients to order prescriptions and other products from pharmacies. The company was founded in 2017 by Dr Rasha Rady and Doaa Aref. It has launched a white-label product and plans to use new funding to grow its operations team and to launch a B2B service serving SMEs. The recently announced round was described only as a seven-figure dollar investment; the exact amount was not disclosed. Earlier funding includes investments announced in August last year from 500 Startups and Flat6Labs, and Crunchbase records $304,000 raised across two prior rounds. Vision Ventures said the investment will help expand services to improve availability of basic medicines and personal care products in the region.