Top 10 Most Promising Startups in Morocco 2022

Top 10 Most Promising Startups in Morocco 2022

 

Morocco officially called the Kingdom of Morocco, is the Maghreb territory of North Africa’s northernmost country. Morocco has a GDP of $112 billion, making it Africa’s fifth-largest economy behind Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, and Algeria. It has a $3,414 GDP per capita. It has a population of 37 million people, with 45 per cent under the age of 24 and 42 per cent between 25 and 54.

 

In terms of internet connectivity, Morocco is one of Africa’s most developed markets. The internet is used by 74% of the population (27 million people). It boasts a 125 per cent mobile phone penetration rate, with 80 per cent of these phones being smartphones. It receives a good rating from the World Bank‘s Ease of Doing Business Report. Morocco’s startup ecosystem is still in its early stages of development, but it is quickly approaching an inflexion juncture where it will become a rapidly developing innovation environment. North African startup investment is making a comeback. Morocco, along with Egypt, is at the forefront of the area’s entrepreneurial movement. 

 

 

Morocco’s startup ecosystem has a few notable participants, significantly investors. Innov Invest Fund, a $50 million fund for entrepreneurs, and Outlierz Ventures, a seed investment business, were both created in 2017 and are involved in the startup sector. Maroc Numeric Fund II is a growth-stage startup fund, while Reseau Entreprendre provides entrepreneurs with interest-free funding. Wise Venture Capital, which operates a USAID-supported investment initiative programme in Morocco, and Wamda Capital, which specialises in Series A investments, are two other investors.

 

The necessity of assisting startups is well recognised in Morocco. Several projects and organisations have sprung up to incubate, house, support, and finance upcoming entrepreneurs known as ‘startuppers’ as well as to assist them in materialising their findings and acquiring the first order. This ecosystem was eventually built up by public and private sector movements. The Moroccan government, with the aid of the World Bank, established the Innov Invest Fund, which is endowed with 500 MDH and managed by the central guarantee fund. This programme surpassed expectations by supporting more than 300 startups a year ahead of schedule.

 

Morocco ranked sixth in the African Funding Report 2017 by WeeTracker, with around USD 3.2 million spent. The 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Index rated it 65th in the world and second in North Africa. The North African country has attracted major international investment and accomplished noteworthy infrastructure improvements. Startup hubs may be discovered throughout the country, including in Rabat, Casablanca, and even small seaside towns. Morocco adopted an auto-entrepreneur framework in 2014, similar to the one in place in France. More than 40,000 ‘auto entrepreneurs’ now have access to reduced taxation, microloans, and social security benefits. 

 

Some of the Initiatives launched by the Moroccan Government to promote Startup Culture and Entrepreneurship in the region include;

 

• StartUp Maroc was founded in 2014 in Morocco to prepare a new generation of entrepreneurs to help create better conditions for the development of fundable enterprises. It hosts two signature events; the ‘Maroc Startup Cup’, the world’s largest business model competition for the most promising Moroccan startups, and ‘Startup Weekend Morocco’, a statewide tour of Startup Weekend events.

 

• Maroc PME, or the National Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises, is a Moroccan government endeavour aimed at promoting startups and SMEs. In July 2015, an industrial acceleration plan was released, and since then, several programmes to support entrepreneurs have been developed. The Maroc PME programme has three main goals: to create long-term employment, create efficient ecosystems, and foster an atmosphere that is friendly to business.

 

• StartupYourLife is a select group of new generation Moroccan entrepreneurs who have brought together entrepreneurs, angel investors, and future investors. Apart from organising regular meetings to share resources and experiences, it sponsors the annually Level Up Morocco meetup in collaboration with organisations like SeedStars World and Jordanian accelerator Oasis500.

 

• Startup Grind, a global community for entrepreneurs dedicated to enlightening, boosting, and connecting them, hosts events every month. Monthly events featuring successful local founders, innovators, instructors, and investors who share lessons acquired on the way to developing great startups are the community’s cornerstone. With over 870 members, the Moroccan chapter is highly active.

 

 

• The Association of Moroccan Women Entrepreneurs is a Moroccan organisation that assists Moroccan women in beginning and growing their enterprises. The Maroc Pionnières network was launched by AFEM in 2000. Between 2006 and 2012, the AFEM assisted in the creation of 70 startups and operated four incubators around the country; Casablanca, Rabat, El Jadida, and Tangier.

 

• Endeavor Morocco was founded with the backing of the US Agency for International Development in Morocco, which gave a grant through its Morocco Economic Competitiveness (MEC) programme to develop Endeavor Morocco to promote new entrepreneurship. This offers a variety of services to these entrepreneurs, including coaching, access to crucial networks, and links to smart finance sources.

 

• Casablanca hosts the Start-Up Weekend, a global endeavour sponsored by Google, Coca-Cola, and Amazon.com that sees Moroccan startups compete in new international contests every year. Other international events for startups and developers of all ages, like the Startup Africa Summit, Get in the Ring, and Devoxx Morocco, are held in Casablanca.

 

• The Impact Lab in Casablanca is the major entrepreneurial hub in Morocco. It was formed in 2014 to help entrepreneurs who are working on social and environmental issues. Apart from this, Dare Inc in Rabat, which supports startups in energy, recycling, and agriculture, is the other hub.

These are the Most Promising Startups in Morocco in 2022.

1. WaystoCap

 

Sector- E-Commerce, Procurement and Marketplace

Products & Services- E-commerce Platforms

Founders- Aziz Jaouhari, Anes Abdeeddine, Mehdi Daoui and Niama El Bassounie

Date Of Starting- 2014

Company Stage- Acquired

Number of Investors- 18

Key Investor- Battery Ventures, Amino Capital, Agile Angel and Y Combinator

Funding Rounds- 4

Total Funding Amount- $ 3 Million

Valuation- $ 18 Million

Acquired By- MaxAB

 

 

WaystoCap is a technology-based platform that allows companies to buy and sell articles quickly and safely. Food & beverage, household appliances, hygiene & cosmetics, home & kitchen, fashion, office supplies, and hundreds of other categories are available. It helps buyers and sellers with funding, insurance, shipping, and payment. It protects the product, the consumer, and the payment. Through its online platform, it aims to capture traditional cross-border business. WaystoCap is based in Casablanca, Morocco, and was created in 2014. It has operations in Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Côte d’Ivoire.

 

It is an Africa-focused B2B marketplace. The startup makes operating globally easier for companies all over Africa, allowing them to trade more effectively. It assists them in finding global and local partners, along with sourcing the most competitive prices, better payment terms, and overall trade support. The introductory product of the company is a business-to-business marketplace where members may purchase and sell goods. Y Combinator and Battery Ventures, along with the other investors, have financed the startup. It is a technology-driven trading platform.

 

Morocco’s most funded company is Ways to Cap. The company received a seed investment of $120,000 from Y Combinator in March 2017, followed by another seed round in June 2017. Story Ventures, Soma Capital, Pascal Levy-Garboua, Palm Drive Capital, Endure Capital, Neon Capital, Lynett Capital, Jude Gomel, Battery Ventures, Amino Capital, and 4Dx Ventures all contributed $3 million to the round. Y-Combinator Michael Seibel participated in this round. It even received an unknown seed round from Outlierz Ventures in June 2018.

 

The startup is a marketplace for African businesses to acquire and sell goods. The startup assists businesses in attaining financing and insurance, handling shipments, and assuring payment security, in addition to product discovery and verification. It streamlines the entire trading process, allowing buyers to identify the most cost-effective commodities and secure financing, while providers gain access to new markets and trade in a safe atmosphere. The World Economic Forum designated the startup as a Technology Pioneer in 2018.

 

The organisation was initiated as a cross-border commerce platform for business goods transactions in Africa. WaystoCap was the first Moroccan firm to be accepted into Y Combinator’s Winter batch in 2017, according to the business. Following that, the business obtained a $3 million startup investment. Ways to Cap developed its cross-border services to Ivory Coast and Togo, processing over $3 million in transactions each quarter at one time.

 

WaystoCap is the second YC-backed startup to leave Africa, following Paystack’s acquisition by Stripe for more than $200 million in October. MaxAB has announced the acquisition of WaystoCap, a B2B e-commerce and distribution platform based in Morocco, for an undisclosed sum. Morocco’s developing tech bunch has tremendous potential, and the purchase of WaystoCap allows MaxAB to become a truly international firm with a focused local strategy, putting the company on course to become the Middle East and Africa’s premier B2B retail and grocery platform.

2. Freterium

 

Sector- Transportation, Saas and Logistics

Products & Services- Transportation Management Services

Founders- Mehdi Alami and Omar Kouhene

Date Of Starting- 2018

Company Stage- Seed 

Number of Investors- 7

Key Investors- Y Combinator, Partech Partners, Outliers Ventures and Swiss Founders Fund

Funding Rounds- 2

Total Funding Amount- $ 4.12 Million

Valuation- $ 16 Million

 

 

This startup is a cloud-based transportation management platform provider. It provides consumers with the most efficient route, tracks delivery status, and analyses performance and costs. Document management, invoicing management, decision support, and other functions are included. Its cloud-based transportation management technology makes managing everyday road freight shipments simple and automated for manufacturers, merchants, and logistics companies.

 

Even though similar businesses pioneered countless enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to automate these actions, businesses would still receive four to five separate software platforms to manage multiple jobs. Freterium wants to solve this problem by providing a single software for all the needs. Manufacturers and distributors, along with retailers and logistics providers, would benefit from a single piece of software that connects them to their complete shipping environment, saving time and money. 

 

Many companies work in the freight and logistics industry to manage miscellaneous concerns. However, SaaS solutions for managing the flow of these shipments, collaborating internally with multiple departments like sales, customer support, finance, and accounting, and aggregating data from several ERP systems are few and far between. And that’s what Freterium, a YC-backed business founded in 2018, is trying to create; a holistic approach to solving the freight industry’s critical backend problems.

 

It’s developing a logistics operating system that will allow shippers, or the customers, to manage all of their domestic shipments through a single program. As a result, it connects businesses, people, and technologies throughout the logistics value chain. Its major product, shipper transportation management software, allows for multi-enterprise collaboration. But, more crucially, it is platform-independent.

 

Freterium, a Moroccan firm that provides this software, has acquired $4 million in seed funding to expand across the country and into neighbouring regions. Partech, a San Francisco-based investor, led the investment. CDG Invest, Flexport, Swiss Founders Fund, Y Combinator, Outlierz Ventures, and a few angel investors from the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa were the ones that took part.

 

Freterium promotes productivity, lowers transportation costs, and improves consumer satisfaction from the first to last mile, for modern or traditional trade, employing a fleet of chartered carriers. It is a logistics and supply chain company established in Casablanca, Morocco that provides a cloud-based transportation management platform for manufacturers, merchants, and logistics companies.

 

Freterium software assists in the performance and monitoring of shipments by sharing shipment information with parties engaged in the transaction. The retailer can monitor invoices from delivery companies, analyze performance and service quality, and gain insight into shortcomings within the company after the shipment has been delivered. According to the CEO, Freterium onboarded more than 20 business customers in its first full year of operation, gaining 35 per cent MOM (month over month). Its programme is used by over 3,000 people.

 

Merchants can implement Freeterium’s platform in under a week with no upfront fees, according to the company. Enterprise customers can spend a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars monthly after installation. Freterium has developed a holistic approach to addressing the industry’s core hardships, and the startup is thrilled to join the quest to empower African producers, retailers, and logistical teams.

3. Chari

 

Sector- E-Commerce, Retail and Financial Technology

Products & Services- Multi-Category Consumer Products

Founder- Sophia Alj and Ismael Belkhayat

Date Of Starting- 2020

Geographical Range- Africa

Company Stage- Seed 

Number of Investors- 20

Key Investors- Rocket Internet, Endeavor, Global Founders Capital and Plug & Play Tech Center

Funding Rounds- 4

Total Funding Amount- $ 5.24 Million

Valuation- $ 100 Billion

 

 

Chari is a business-to-business e-commerce and financial technology startup that digitises the enormously fragmented, fast-moving consumer products market in French-speaking African countries. It was founded in January 2020. It is an app-based platform with a wide spectrum of consumer products for local businesses. Traditional local shop retailers can order and receive delivery services for FMCG products through the company’s platform. Marketing, data mining, and IT services are also provided. The Android and iOS platforms support the mobile application.

 

Using Chari’s app, traditional convenience stores in Morocco and Tunisia may order products and have them delivered in less than 24 hours, according to the company. Ismael co-founded Chari, an e-commerce application for convenience stores, with his wife Sophia Alj, a former McKinsey consultant, in January 2020. Orange Ventures, an Orange subsidiary, joined the startup’s fundraising round in March. Chari then enrolled in Station F’s Founders Program, the world’s largest business incubator. Plug’n’Play, the world’s most active startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley, funded Chari a few months later. 

 

Plug’n’Play is the first Moroccan startup to join Chari’s round table. The famed incubator Y Combinator announced the purchase of 7% of the Moroccan business in June. Chari was the first Moroccan startup to get accepted into the Y Combinator programme in July 2021.  Chari, which just graduated from the Y Combinator incubator in Silicon Valley, raised $5 million in October. Karny, a Moroccan financial app, with over 50,000 thousand active users, was bought after a month.

 

This acquisition provided Chari with important information about the loans that grocery retailers provide to their customers. It facilitates the startup to assess the creditworthiness of unbanked shop owners and identify the most appropriate payment conditions for them, according to the company. Y Combinator, Rocket Internet, Global Founders Capital, Plug and Play, Orange Ventures, Harvard University Management Company, Village Capital, and P1 Ventures are the company’s current investors.

 

Chari plans to extend its operations in more francophone countries — countries that have designated the French language as an official language or whose people mostly speak French — and is currently assessing prospective acquisitions with different enterprises to improve its products and client base. Since it has a negative working capital provision, it is already cash-flow positive. Through simplified financial solutions, Chari will assist millions of Africans in bettering their lives.

 

Chari, a Moroccan FinTech startup, has secured a bridge round of fundraising worth $100 million. The Casablanca-based firm will use the extra reserves to expand its services and explore new markets. A bridge-financing round is used when a startup requires more funds between two rounds of fundraising to keep the company afloat until the following, larger funding round. The undisclosed bridge round was headed by Khwarizmi Ventures, an investment company located in Saudi Arabia, AirAngels (Airbnb Alumni Investors), and Afri Mobility, the venture capital arm of Moroccan conglomerate Akwa Group.

 

Chari has distribution agreements with major FMCG businesses and receives a cut (10-30%) of each sale it makes to shop owners. The YC-backed company then uses appropriate payment terms, it is not supposed to pay suppliers in 40 days and instead receives immediate payments from local businesses. This method permits Chari to be cash-flow positive with an average of 15 days of inventory. Chari wants to digitise Morocco’s informal retail organisations and give them credit. 

 

With Chari, small businesses can order products from FMCG multinationals and local producers and have them dispatched within 24 hours. According to Belkhayat, the Moroccan startup presently transacts roughly $2.5 million a month. It has 15,000 merchants signed up and is increasing by 20% MOM (month over month), but only half of them use the medium regularly. The total number of merchants using Chari’s products exceeds 50,000 when you include Karny.

4. Hmizate 

 

Sector- E-commerce, Mobile Payments and Travel

Products & Services- Online Shopping and Payments

Founder- Kamal Reggad

Date Of Starting- 2011

Geographical Range- Morocco

Company Stage- Seed 

Number of Investors- 3

Key Investors- Mena Venture Investments and Hummingbird Ventures

Funding Rounds- 2

Total Funding Amount- $ 1.6 Million

 

 

Hmizate is a Moroccan e-commerce startup based in Casablanca. Kamal Reggad created it in January 2011. Hmizate has delivered diverse verticals throughout the years, including travel, leisure, shopping, food delivery, and, most recently, mobile payment. It is an online everyday deal provider. It is a group buying website that provides savings on hotels, spas, restaurants, hairdressers, and other services. Discounts are also offered on the site’s Android and iOS apps. Hmizate was initiated in January 2011 and eventually evolved into a marketplace for services.

 

Hmizate is a Moroccan group-buying website that regularly suggests Moroccan consumers with reduced bargains (hotels, spa/massage, restaurants, hair salons, etc.). In 2018, the company shifted its focus to fintech and e-commerce, launching a mobile application that included a digital wallet, supplementary services, and peer-to-peer money transfers. The company makes money by charging a fee on each transaction made through its platform, along with advertising and paid promotional content.

 

It raised 1.6 million dollars from the Belgian investment fund Hummingbird in 2013, after two years of operation, and developed its advertising budget and product offerings. International competitors like Groupon, which ceased operations in 2015 and withdrew from the Moroccan market, have been defeated by Hmizate. The company was named to Forbes’ Top 100 MENA Startups list in 2017.

 

Hmizate, a Moroccan e-commerce startup that provides users with access to goods, food, travel services, and deals, has entered the fintech space with the launch of HmizatePay, an all-in-one mobile commerce and payment platform. It claims that its new payment platform gives customers an e-wallet to use to book, buy, and pay for common requirements. The software provides quick payback for the bulk of in-app purchases.

 

HmizatePay brings together all of Hmizate Group’s services along with added digital services like airtime and data, utilities, ferry tickets, highway pass top-ups, car registration, and more. Its purpose is to save customers time and money by providing a one-stop shop for all services they use often. As soon as the third quarter of this year, it will be slowly integrating more consumer services along with financial solutions like peer-to-peer money transfers and offline payments through QR codes.

 

Hmizate, which claims to be Morocco’s first e-commerce company, started as a flash sale site focusing on leisure and travel but has now grown to include diverse consumer-focused services. Before Hmizate, there was no e-commerce in Morocco. It began with a flash sale site, and within 6 months, approximately 30 sites were providing the same services.

 

Hmizate has a membership of over 600,000 people and has sold over 1.7 million products and services. According to Reggad, returning customers account for 70% of monthly orders. The company was founded using the savings of its founder and was bootstrapped for the first two years until raising $2 million from international investors in 2013. Hmizate, which had formerly only focused on Morocco, is now looking to expand into other African markets with its new payments platform, according to Reggad.

5. Mubawab

 

Sector- Real Estate

Products & Services- Online Marketplace

Founders- Toni Puig, Shadi El-Hajj and Kevin Gourmand

Date Of Starting- 2010

Geographical Range- North Africa and the Middle East

Company Stage- Acquired

Number of Investors- 2

Key Investor- Grupo Intercom, Enisa and EMPG

Funding Rounds- 3

Total Funding Amount- $ 17.8 Million

Acquired By- EMPG

 

 

Mubawab is a prop-tech firm started by Kevin Gourmand in 2010. It allows sellers and landlords to market their properties in Morocco and Tunisia. It is a holding firm that provides online listing portals and search engines for people wishing to buy, sell, rent, and lease residential, commercial, and vacation rental properties in Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Egypt. Property suppliers can list their properties in two languages, French and Arabic. 

 

It has over 150,000 listings and receives over 2 million monthly callers. Foreign citizens and users of their nationality are the target clientele. Property hunters can search for homes using location and property type filters. Property developers can buy advertising space on the company’s websites. It is the Middle East and North African real estate classifieds website. The startup began operations in September 2010 and is headquartered in Casablanca, Morocco.

 

Mubawab has received two rounds of funding from UAE-based real estate firm Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG), the most recent of which was a $7 million corporate round in January 2020. In March 2021, it even raised an undisclosed $10 million round from the same source to accelerate its growth. With its current round of funding and after a successful year, Mubawab wants to hire 200 supplementary staff and create in-house research and development divisions. Mubawab, a Moroccan real estate platform, wants to use the investment to help it expand in the Maghreb province and strengthen its technology.

 

Mubawab, which was founded in 2011 by current CEO Kevin Gormand and allows sellers and landlords to promote their properties in Morocco and Tunisia, has two million monthly visits and has 150,000 properties listed. According to the startup, in the Maghreb province, real estate still has a lot to contribute, and technology is a strong link in this high-potential sector. The company stated that it has financial certitude, supplementary real estate experience, and a long-term strategic collaboration thanks to the EMPG’s support.

 

Mubawab’s leadership and vision in allowing real estate professionals to fulfil demand validated the EMPG’s decision to finance Mubawab to consolidate its stake as a key and crucial real estate participant in the Maghreb, said EMPG CEO, Haider Ali Khan. It is a startup with a lot of potentials which saw a performance comeback in the last quarter of 2020 and it is very different from other real estate competitors according to EPMG. EMPG, which owns Bayut in the UAE and Zameen in Pakistan, bought it in May 2018. The acquisition comes after an EMPG investment of $7 million in January 2020.

 

Mubawab, launched in 2011 by Kevin Gormand and Toni Puig, allows users to purchase, sell, and rent homes in Morocco and Tunisia through its platform. According to reports, it has two million monthly views and has 150,000 properties listed. Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Egypt are some of the countries covered. The startup’s goals are to become the most popular real estate classifieds website in all Arabic countries, to keep things local and user-friendly, to build a strong pan-Arab brand while sticking to local regulations and to keep its services free.

6. Buzzkito

 

Sector- Media and Entertainment, News and Advertising

Products & Services- Advertising Platforms

Founder- El Mehdi Benslim

Date Of Starting- 2015

Geographical Range- Morocco

Company Stage- Series A

Number of Investors- 1

Key Investors- Africinvest

Funding Rounds- 1

Total Funding Amount- $ 1.7 Million

 

 

Buzzkito is a digital media company that specialises in local and national news. The website features articles and blogs about social media, sports, music, technology, and economic conditions, along with other topics. Buzzkito Network is the first brand-tech business in the territory, changing the advertising industry. To make its customers happy, the startup combines technology and brand building. The startup is driven by facts and psychology.

 

Buzzkito claims to be the first brand technology firm in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, having been founded in 2015 by El Mehdi Benslim. Combining statistics, technology, and psychology, it creates short, compelling videos that go viral. For every piece of branded content, Buzzkito creates, it charges brands a fee. Similarly, advertisers sponsor frequent material that may be of interest to their consumers, who are also Buzzkito’s audience.

 

The company has a sizable social media presence. There are 10 million likes on one of its Facebook pages alone. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube are some of the social media platforms where it receives 200 million views monthly. The startup has worked with over 40 organisations across the MENA province, including P&G, Kiri, Nestle, Aksal, Gillette, Coca-Cola, Honda, Ariel, Bayn, Pizza Hut, and others, with its 60-member crew situated in Casablanca, Jeddah, and Dubai.

 

Founder and CEO Mehdi Benslim founded the company in 2015 after noticing a shortage of entertainment and compelling material in Morocco. To create short, engaging, and viral videos, the video content and development startup combines technology, analytics, and psychology. To create such videos, Buzzkito uses two distinct business models: traditional branded content, in which Buzzkito operates as a consultant providing writing and production services, and customised sponsored content, in which Buzzkito does not charge for the content but allows brands to sponsor it at a price set by the business sponsor. 

 

For its content, the firm focuses on being social, millennial-centric, and emotive to create rapid and economical content. According to a press release, the firm tests its content with a target demographic, with content reaching 32 million views per week, 25,000 shares per day, and 180,000 reactions per day, all of which are published in different formats for each platform (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube).

 

The company presents content for these platforms in three categories: bronze (micro-content), silver (voice recording), and gold (voice recording and outside shooting), all of which are 75 per cent less expensive than traditional competitors, according to its team. The startup’s key USP, according to founder and CEO Benslim, is its intention of allowing brands to become content developers.

 

In January 2018, Buzzkito, a Moroccan company, raised US$1.7 million in a Series A round from AfricInvest, a Tunisian private equity company with $1 billion in assets and over 140 portfolio investments. Buzzkito’s prior round of funding will be used to grow the company’s operations across the GCC and generate unbranded content in the region. Buzzkito is a highly innovative firm with an astonishing growth trajectory across the Middle East and North Africa. It is confident in its ability to complete its challenging expansion due to its disruptive approach and highly qualified staff.

7. Peaqock Financials

 

Sector- Information Technology, Data Analytics and Financial Technology

Products & Services- Financial Services

Founder- Mohammed Benkhaled

Date Of Starting- 2014

Company Stage- Seed

Number of Investors- 1

Key Investor- Maroc Numeric Fund

Funding Rounds- 1

Total Funding Amount- $ 300 K 

Valuation- $ 2 Million

 

 

Peaqock Financials is a financial technology startup that specialises in data visualisation, analytics, and management. It provides data and reports centralization resolutions, and the ability for customers to build custom reports and access their data from a variety of devices. Mohammed Benkhaled is the founder and CEO of Peaqock Financials, a data services firm with a focus on machine learning and artificial intelligence. Peaqock advises on the consequences of data and the disruption of established marketplaces caused by AI.

 

Peaqock is a Moroccan startup that specialises in Data Analytics, Data Visualization, and Data Management. It was founded in 2014. The startup provides cutting-edge solutions for the digitalization of internal business processes. It presents advanced data visualisation solutions that are ergonomic, active, and quick. 

 

Peaqock products are fully integrated into the era of digital transformation, which many enterprises are presently moving towards, thanks to their ease of use, adaptability to diverse needs, and use of modern communication standards. These capabilities will allow business leaders to get control of the entire company in a timely and effective method. The company helps banks, regulators, insurance companies, and traders understand the impact of data on their operations and how it can add value to their businesses at Peaqock.

 

Peaqock suggests a wealth of information and analysis on the alternative investment industry and private enterprises. Hedge funds, asset management, pension funds, insurance companies, private equity, and mutual funds are all covered in depth. It helps huge corporations with data compilation, data recovery, and regulatory compliance monitoring. Personalized data visualisation, cloud computing, account merger, and reporting services are also obtainable.

 

This startup is a data analytics, visualisation, and management platform provider aiming to democratise the latest technical evolutions. The company’s platform delivers active interfaces that pull out take-out indicators and reports that are required for decision-making, along with cloud computing, reporting conceptions, and other personalised recommendations, allowing businesses, banking, and insurance companies to get access to customized reporting, manage fund information and find data for successful operational performance.

8. OnePay

 

Sector- Financial Technology and Payments

Products & Services- Financial Services

Founder- Karim Zaitouni

Date Of Starting- 2020

Geographical Range- Africa

Company Stage- Seed 

Number of Investors- 1

Key Investor- Maroc Numeric Fund

Funding Rounds- 1

Total Funding Amount- $ 409 K

 

 

OnePay is a financial technology business that distributes payment methods and aggregates payment and value-added services in electronic transactions. Consumers can pay their bills online with OnePay. Mobile recharges, utility bill payments, internet booking, travel bill payments, data subscription, credit card bill payments, and more services are available. OnePay, which was founded only a year ago, allows both offline and internet businesses to accept digital payments. Its platform works as a payment and value-added service aggregator.

 

OnePay is a financial services firm that accepts digital payments from both offline and online companies. It was founded by Karim Zaitouni as a consequence of a $409,000 investment by SisPay, its parent business, and the Maroc Numeric Fund II in July 2020. The round was kept under wraps. MITC Capital’s Maroc Numeric Fund II has financed over $400,000 (MAD 4 million) in Casablanca-based fintech OnePay.

 

According to a Disrupt Africa report, the firm would use the funds to finance technical, marketing, and commercial development to expand its consumer base. OnePay is a software platform that allows businesses to pay their invoices safely online. The FinTech startup serves as a payment distributor and aggregator on the internet. Its platform performs as a payment and value-added services aggregator in electronic transactions, allowing customers of the companies who utilise it to make online payments. OnePay allows both offline and online businesses to accept digital payments. 

 

It was founded by Karim Zaitouni, who has earlier headed various firms, including those in the financial technology field. OnePay has been founded thanks to investments from SisPay (also handled by Karim Zaitouni) and Maroc Numeric Fund II. Maroc Numeric Fund II has made its first investment. Numeric Fund II is managed by MITC Capital, which has made close to 20 investments in Moroccan companies through Numeric Fund I. By delivering miscellaneous financial services to meet the continent’s financial inclusion concerns, OnePay has strong growth potential in Morocco and across Africa. 

 

OnePay plans to use the full investment to expand its team in Morocco and develop its network to a large number of users across the country. Its integrated platform SISWIN, combines payment tools, virtual card management, Mobile Wallets (and all of their elements) and value-added services (loyalty, oil payment systems, phone top-up, discount card, virtual gift vouchers, and so on) into a single homogeneous and harmonised platform that has been installed in several prominent accounts in Morocco and Africa.

 

This is the first investment of the new fund Maroc Numeric Fund II, and the 18th for its management team, taking into the narrative the investments made by the fund Maroc Numeric Fund I, which is presently in a disposal phase. Since 2010, the Maroc Numeric Fund has become the go-to investment fund for Moroccan technology businesses. The management team’s competence has resulted in the birth of different Moroccan success stories.

9. Kifal Auto

 

Sector- Automotive, Marketplace and E-Commerce

Products & Services- Sale and Purchase of Used Cars

Founder- Nizar Abdallaoui Maane

Date Of Starting- 2019

Company Stage- Seed 

Number of Investors- 1

Key Investors- 212 Founders

Funding Rounds- 2

Total Funding Amount- $ 800 K

Valuation- $ 4 Million

Acquired By- Autochek

 

 

Kifal Auto is an online marketplace for people and businesses to buy and sell new and used cars. It is a used car C2C marketplace. The startup provides a full spectrum of services to its clients, whether they are buyers or sellers, including vehicle expertise, competitive pricing, administrative support, and more. To establish itself as the go-to one-stop shop for used automobiles, Kifal has picked the greatest options for its customers to ensure, finance, and service their vehicles around the car transaction.

 

Nizar Abdallaoui Maane created Kifal Auto in 2019 planning to revolutionise the Moroccan automotive experience by providing a simple method for purchasing and selling used automobiles, along with access to finance, warranties, insurance, and other value-added services. To accelerate its expansion into North Africa, Autochek, an automotive technology business, bought Kifal Auto, a Moroccan automotive technology startup. This acquisition marks the startup’s first major foray into North Africa, and it will help it achieve its pan-African collaborative goals.

 

Autochek will use the acquisition to tap into the invention that underpins Morocco’s thriving automotive ecosystem, introducing market-leading solutions to address different challenges across the value chain. Furthermore, it will integrate the Pan-African automotive industry to deliver shared value to consumers, manufacturers, and financial institutions.

 

Autochek, backed by a data analytics engine that makes it easier for financial institutions to extend loans to customers, is establishing the financial infrastructure to increase the penetration of automobile financing across Africa. It has operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Uganda, along with a partner-led retail web of over 1,500 dealer and workshop sites and over 70 banking associates, including Ecobank, Access Bank, UBA, Bank of Africa, and NCBA Bank.

 

CDG Invest, an early-stage fund focusing on funding internet businesses operating in Morocco and across the African continent, has accepted the startup into the inaugural cohort of the 212 Founders accelerator programme. A $300,000 seed round was funded in Kifal Auto by 212 Founders in April 2020. With its transparent, safe, and cost-effective methods, Kifal Auto has established itself as an entrusted partner for individuals and organisations in Morocco looking to buy and sell used cars. In addition to delivering financing, warranties, insurance, and other services, Kifal simplifies the process of buying and selling used automobiles.

 

Morocco is one of Africa’s most advanced automobile marketplaces, with over 180,000 new cars and 560,000 used cars sold each year. Morocco’s automotive sector is expected to grow by $14 billion over the next five years as a result of considerable government initiatives and infrastructure improvements. Kifal, which was launched by Nizar Abdalaoui Maane in 2019, is one of the most well-known automobile marketplaces in Morocco, which has one of the largest used and new car markets in Africa. Following the recent agreement, Maane and the Kifal automobile team will join Autochek to manage the company’s North African expansion ambitions.

10. KoolSkools

 

Sector- E-Learning, Education and Education Technology

Products & Services- Online Learning Platform

Founders- Nouredine Amrani and Mariam Zrii

Date Of Starting- 2019

Geographical Range- Morocco

Company Stage- Seed 

Number of Investors- 3

Key Investors- Maroc Numeric Fund and 212 Founders

Funding Rounds- 1

Total Funding Amount- $ 416 K

 

 

KoolSkools is a digital learning platform that allows schools to digitise their courses and activities, build a content bank, and execute live courses. Schools can even use the platform to manage their operations, like student records, attendance, report cards, parent communication, and payments. It is a children’s e-learning platform. It is aimed at schools and delivers classes in the disciplines like Arithmetic, French, Arabic, and others. It has features including a reward-based system for kids, progress tracking, and student communication management.

 

KoolSkools is a collaborative learning platform that democratises access to high-quality learning content and meets the online learning needs of digitalizing the learning process. It presents interactive courses, exercises, a self-learning content bank, and live instructor-led courses and sessions. Student monitoring, skill evaluation, and remediation processes; digital management of the school’s everyday activities such as student records, absences, report cards, payment management, and parent communication are some of its features along with other things.

 

KoolSkools aspires to provide all Moroccan learners, regardless of social status, with equal access to high-quality learning content and careful monitoring. The company claims to have more than 30 schools all over Morocco, with over 20,000 students and 700 professors, in towns like Ouarzazate, Marrakech, El Jedida, Casablanca, Agadir, Rabat, Fez, and Meknes. In two to three years, it hopes to cover the entire country and assist schools all around Morocco in going digital, reaching at least 100,000 students.

 

KoolSkools leverages technology to streamline the teaching and learning process. It creates interactive courses, exercises, and content, as well as tracks how learners are gaining proficiency. As well as providing schools with student data and report cards, it allows them to manage fees and student information digitally. KoolSkools is an online learning platform that delivers everything linked to a school in a digital format. It was founded in 2020. It allows schools to digitise their courses and training, as well as build a content library and perform live courses. The platform also permits digital control of the school’s daily operations, like student records, attendance and report cards.

 

EdAll, a Moroccan ed-tech business founded in 2020 to be an essential participant in the digitalization of education in Morocco and globally, produced KoolSkools. In July 2020, KoolSkools, an ed-tech company situated in Casablanca, Morocco, reportedly raised MAD 4 million (about $400K) from Maroc Numeric Fund II, an investment fund sponsored by prominent Moroccan institutions like Caisse Centrale de Garantie, Attijariwafa Bank, BCP, BMCE, and MITC. The Maroc Numeric Fund II contributed MAD 3 million, with an unnamed angel investor contributing the remaining MAD 1 million.

 

The business plans to put all of the freshly generated funds into its expansion. The fund, according to the company, will allow it to receive technical, marketing, and commercial capabilities to service an expansive network of schools and students. The investment will be used to expand KoolSkools both regionally and globally by acquiring technical, and commercial capabilities to service a comprehensive network of schools and kids, according to a news release from the company. The company hopes to cover all of Morocco with the new finances, digitalize the highest number of schools, and reach a minimum of 100,000 students in the next two or three years.

 

Conclusion

 

Morocco has an entrepreneurial spirit. The climate is favourable to the formation of new ideas, which are often focused on new technology. Many different efforts have been created to encourage youth to be entrepreneurial, along with the establishment of technological startup incubators. 

 

Casablanca, for example, is home to Technopark, one of the most vibrant platforms in French-speaking Africa, providing a wide scope of services and support for startup founders, from business model development to managerial procedures, and client canvassing, funding, and even international expansion. As a result, with the support of incubators and other organisations, local startups are beginning to make inroads internationally.

edited and proofread by nikita sharma