Morocco’s B2B e-commerce startup Chari announced today its full acquisition of Ivorian retail app Diago, in order to further expand into Francophone Africa’s retail sector.
Founded in 2021, Diago has operated exclusively in Abidjan and was founded by former managers at Glovo and PepsiCo, Amidou Diarra and Ali Ouattara. Chari acquired Diago in an all-stock transaction with Diarra and Ouattara expected to remain CEO and COO for the application, according to a Chari press release.
“Diago’s entire team will receive Chari’s full support functions. Chari’s Casablanca back office will help Diago team in setting up operations, IT tools, and customer service,” explained Cyrille Jacques, Vice-President in charge of leading international expansion at Chari.
Hoping to become a leading African startup, Chari works on extending the services of its application to Francophone Africa, to enable local convenience stores to buy products at “unbeatable prices” while benefiting from a free delivery service that delivers within 24 hours.
Relying on local teams for “successful expansion,” Islamel Belkhayat, who co-founded Chari along with his wife Sophia Alj (COO), says that his team continues “to surround [itself] with young and ambitious entrepreneurs from Francophone Africa to build together a pan-African giant of FMCG and financial services distribution.”
In only 10 months, the Moroccan startup has completed three acquisition deals including a $22 million deal for Axa Credit and the purchase of retail bookkeeping app Karny.
