Moroccan fintech startup Woliz has raised $2.2 million in pre-seed funding, signaling a new phase in North Africa’s fast-evolving retail digitization landscape. The round was led by Sanlam Maroc, the Moroccan insurance arm of the Sanlam Group, underscoring growing interest from traditional financial players in technology-driven distribution and data-led underwriting models.
Founded by CEO Kamal El Hardouzi, Woliz is building an AI-powered platform designed specifically for small and informal retailers; one of the most economically significant yet underserved segments in the region. Through a single mobile application, merchants can order stock directly from suppliers, track sales and inventory in real time, and generate verifiable business data that can be used to access formal financial services.
At the core of Woliz’s value proposition is the link between digitization and financial inclusion. By helping small retailers formalize their daily operations, the platform creates reliable income and transaction records—data that banks and insurers traditionally lack when assessing micro and small businesses. This directly addresses a major bottleneck in lending and insurance across North Africa, where millions of merchants operate outside formal systems despite steady cash flows.
Sanlam Maroc’s participation highlights the strategic importance of this approach. Small retailers represent a vast, largely uninsured market, one that conventional insurance agents struggle to reach profitably. By embedding insurance and financial products into a digital retail workflow, Woliz sits at the intersection of fintech and insurtech, pointing to a future where distribution, risk assessment, and customer acquisition are increasingly software-driven.
Woliz is also entering a competitive arena. Fellow Moroccan startup Chari, which raised $12 million in a Series A round in October 2025, has evolved from a B2B marketplace into a fintech super app offering loans, money transfers, and bill payments. The parallel trajectories of Woliz and Chari suggest an intensifying battle over who will define the operating system for small retailers in Morocco and, potentially, across North Africa.
As digitization accelerates among informal merchants, the winners in this space will likely be those that can combine operational tools with financial access at scale. With fresh capital, a strong strategic investor, and a clear focus on data-driven inclusion, Woliz has positioned itself as a serious contender in Morocco’s emerging retail fintech showdown.
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