In just two years, Casablanca-based ORA has vaulted from ambitious newcomer to one of Morocco’s most closely watched technology ventures. Founded in 2023 by serial entrepreneur Omar Alami, the 11-to-50-person company straddles the intersecting worlds of FinTech, RetailTech, and last-mile logistics. Its twin consumer offerings—Kooul, a food-delivery marketplace steeped in Moroccan culture, and ORA Cash, a social mobile wallet—are positioning the startup at the heart of the kingdom’s accelerating digital economy. Last week ORA closed a landmark $7.5 million Series A round, Morocco’s largest locally led tech deal to date, lifting a range of total funding between $10million-$15million and earning the company our title of “Startup of the Week.”
Building a Digital Infrastructure for Everyday Life
ORA’s thesis is disarmingly simple: when payments, logistics, and community converge in one ecosystem, digital commerce can mirror—and even enhance—the intimacy of Morocco’s traditional souks. From its headquarters in Casablanca, the team has engineered a vertically integrated stack that links cashless transactions to on-demand delivery, allowing small merchants to reach customers they once could not serve and giving consumers a more convenient, trusted buying experience.
Kooul: Delivering Moroccan Flavor at Scale
Kooul, ORA’s flagship logistics product, went live in 2023 with a curated roster of major restaurant chains and neighborhood eateries. The service promises average delivery times under 30 minutes, a feat the company attributes to proprietary route-optimization software tailored to North African traffic patterns. Unlike global rivals that import one-size-fits-all playbooks, Kooul foregrounds local culinary identity: tagines arrive in insulated clay-pot containers; riders use Arabic-French bilingual apps; and promotions highlight regional specialties from Rabat to Marrakesh. Investors see that cultural fluency as a moat. With Pre-Series A proceeds of US $1.9 million in early 2025, Kooul expanded into six Moroccan cities, setting the stage for the fresh Series A capital to supercharge its fleet, cold-chain capabilities, and merchant acquisition.
ORA Cash: Social Payments for a Mobile Generation
Running parallel to Kooul is ORA Cash, a chat-infused mobile wallet that bundles peer-to-peer transfers, QR-code payments and group messaging. The app’s interface borrows the informality of social media—users can split a café bill, share an emoji-studded receipt and then order dessert through Kooul without leaving the conversation thread. Because Moroccan consumers remain wary of card-on-file systems, ORA Cash links to multiple funding sources, including bank accounts and cash top-ups at partner kiosks, with two-factor authentication baked into every payment flow. By embedding itself in daily interactions, ORA Cash aims to convert social trust into transaction volume, a strategy that underpins the firm’s broader vision of a unified commerce graph.
Funding Trajectory: A Record-Setting Series A
ORA’s latest raise on 16 July 2025 was led by Casablanca-based Azur Innovation Fund with participation from Witamax, both of which re-upped after joining earlier rounds. The US $7.5 million injection marks the sixth funding event since inception and Morocco’s biggest home-grown Series A on record. Proceeds will be divided between scaling Kooul’s last-mile network and accelerating ORA Cash adoption through merchant subsidies and referral incentives. Management also hints at a regional push once unit economics stabilize domestically. “Our platform was built for Morocco first but never Morocco only,” founder Alami told investors during the signing ceremony, underscoring ambitions to enter Francophone West Africa by late 2026.
Outlook: Synergies on the Horizon
Synergy is more than a buzzword in ORA’s playbook; it is the connective tissue that binds its logistics and payments arms. Data from Kooul’s dispatches feed ORA Cash’s credit-scoring algorithms, which in turn inform dynamic delivery pricing. As the two products mature, analysts expect ORA to introduce merchant lending and embedded insurance, deepening monetization while lowering churn. The company’s relatively lean headcount—under 50 employees—suggests prudent cash management, a trait investors prize amid tightening global venture markets.
With culturally attuned products, a record-breaking Series A and a founder intent on weaving payments and logistics into the fabric of everyday Moroccan life, ORA embodies the multidimensional innovation now emerging across Africa’s tech landscape. If the startup can translate its domestic momentum into regional scale without diluting its local ethos, it may soon sit alongside the continent’s most influential consumer-technology brands. For now, ORA stands out as a prime example of how Moroccan ingenuity is reshaping commerce from the streets of Casablanca to smartphones nationwide—earning it this week’s spotlight.