• Woliz secured USD 2.2M pre-seed funding to modernize Morocco’s informal retail sector through a unified digital platform.
• Sanlam Maroc led the round, marking its first startup investment via a long-term private equity approach.
• The funding supports technology development, merchant onboarding, and future expansion into other African markets.

Woliz

Moroccan startup Woliz raised USD 2.2 million in a pre-seed funding round to digitize neighborhood retail and small merchants. The round was led by Sanlam Maroc, the local arm of insurance group Sanlam. This sector remains one of the country’s largest employers but is largely undigitized.

Woliz is building a technology platform designed for small neighborhood shops. These stores form a dense commercial network but rely heavily on manual processes. The startup aims to bring structure, data, and digital tools to everyday retail operations. Its platform connects merchants with suppliers, distributors, and financial institutions, creating a more efficient and unified ecosystem.

Sanlam Maroc views the partnership as part of a broader push to modernize the local economy. Yahia Chraibi, CEO of Sanlam Maroc, said the investment supports real economic transformation and highlighted the importance of modern tools for small businesses. The goal is to help merchants improve operations and gain better access to financial services, including payments, inventory management, and data-driven decision-making.

Retail

For Woliz, the opportunity lies in scale. Founder and CEO Kamal El Hardouzi describes local retail as highly fragmented. Despite its size, the sector lacks shared infrastructure and digital intelligence. Woliz wants to turn this fragmentation into a connected retail ecosystem. The platform relies on artificial intelligence, automation, and advanced analytics to streamline workflows and reduce inefficiencies across the supply chain. Merchants can better manage stock, orders, and supplier relationships, while larger partners gain visibility into demand and distribution patterns.

The funding will support product development and team expansion. Woliz also plans to increase on-the-ground deployment across Moroccan cities, with merchant onboarding as a key focus for the next phase. Morocco remains the core market for now, but Woliz has clear ambitions beyond its home country. The startup sees its model as transferable across African markets, many of which face similar challenges around informal retail and financial access.