Moroccan retail-tech startup Woliz has raised a US$2.2 million pre-seed funding round to accelerate the development of its AI-powered, fintech-enabled platform.
Founded by Kamal El Hardouzi, Woliz is digitising and structuring neighbourhood retail by placing compact merchants at the centre of a unified ecosystem connecting commerce, finance, telecoms, institutions, and consumers.
Its aim is to empower indepfinishent shop owners with tools typically available to large retail chains, with its platform enabling merchants to order stock digitally, automatically track sales, and verify income, while also assisting them build a financial footprint and improve access to credit from financial institutions.
The startup’s US$2.2 million pre-seed round was led by Sanlam Maroc, the Moroccan subsidiary of financial services giant Sanlam Group. The investment will accelerate the development and rollout of the Woliz platform, primarily by expanding the team and speeding merchant onboarding across multiple Moroccan cities.
The company also plans to eventually scale its model to other African markets facing similar retail and financial infrastructure challenges.
“Morocco is the foundation. Africa is the natural extension,” the company declared in a statement.
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