Morocco’s Woliz Secures $2.2M to Revolutionise Retail-Tech Scene

Woliz, the Moroccan startup quietly building its name in the country’s retail-tech space, has secured 2.2 million dollars in a pre-seed round led by Sanlam Maroc, part of the South African Sanlam Group. What caught my attention is that this marks Sanlam’s first real foray into Morocco’s startup scene through long-term private equity—quite a statement of intent if you ask me.

The company says the fresh capital will go straight into fine‑tuning its tech stack and boosting on-the-ground expansion across Morocco. And believe it or not, there’s already talk of taking its model to other African markets once things settle locally. I reckon that’s ambitious, but then again, in this ecosystem, ambition is half the game.

Woliz is trying to digitise one of Morocco’s most traditional sectors: small neighbourhood grocers. These shops might look modest from the outside, but they’re the backbone of daily retail for millions. Woliz offers connected point‑of‑sale devices and software that help shopkeepers manage stock, accept digital payments, and plug directly into a growing network of distributors, manufacturers, and even financial institutions. Sorting all that manually can be a bit of a faff, so the pitch is pretty spot on.

The company’s CEO, Kamal Elhardouzi, has spoken about building a unified system that links commerce, logistics, and financial services. According to him, automation and data analysis are at the heart of reducing the operational pain points these shopkeepers face. And on the flip side, as someone who’s spent years chatting with founders around the region through Arageek’s work, I’ve seen how neglected the small‑retail infrastructure often is—so the opportunity here is massive.

What struck me too is how familiar this all feels. When I first visited a tiny convenience shop in Casablanca a couple of years ago, the owner showed me a handwritten notebook full of debts, inventory notes, supplier names… the whole lot. He laughed and said, “One day this will all be on a screen.” Well… I mean, he might be right.

For now, Woliz’s task is to scale without losing touch with these everyday merchants. If they manage that, they could be chuffed to bits with how far this early raise takes them. And yes, I’m definately keeping an eye on where they go next.

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