Moroccan startup Woliz has raised USD 2.2 million in a pre-seed funding round to digitize neighborhood retail and small merchants, a sector that remains one of the country’s largest employers but is still largely informal and manual. The round was led by Sanlam Maroc, the local arm of insurance group Sanlam, marking its first startup investment through a long-term private equity approach.
Woliz is building a unified digital platform tailored for small neighborhood shops that form Morocco’s dense retail backbone. These merchants typically operate with limited access to technology, data, and financial services. Woliz aims to introduce structure and efficiency by connecting retailers with suppliers, distributors, and financial institutions within a single ecosystem.
Sanlam Maroc said the investment aligns with its broader goal of supporting economic modernization. Its leadership highlighted the importance of equipping small businesses with digital tools to improve operational efficiency and expand access to services such as payments, inventory management, and data-driven insights.
According to founder and CEO Kamal El Hardouzi, the informal retail sector is highly fragmented despite its scale. Woliz seeks to transform this fragmentation into a connected ecosystem using artificial intelligence, automation, and advanced analytics. The platform enables merchants to manage stock, orders, and supplier relationships more effectively, while giving partners greater visibility into demand and distribution patterns.
The funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand the team, and scale merchant onboarding across Moroccan cities. While Morocco remains the company’s primary focus, Woliz plans to expand into other African markets facing similar challenges in informal retail and financial inclusion.
