Senegalese Fintech Unicorn Raises $137M To Expand Mobile Money Services
Senegalese mobile money platform Wave has secured $137 million in debt financing, led by Rand Merchant Bank, with support from British International Investment (BII), Finnfund, and Norfund, according to TechCabal. The funding will enable the company to expand its operations, allowing it to continue serving underserved communities across Africa.
What does Wave do?
Founded in 2018 by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk, Wave serves over 20 million monthly active users through a network of more than 150,000 agents and a team of 3,000 employees across eight markets in West Africa. It was recently granted the license to operate in Cameroon through a partnership with Commercial Bank Cameroon (CBC).
Wave provides free deposits and withdrawals with a fixed transaction fee of just 1% for money transfers between users. Additional costs for bill payments are passed on to businesses by users.
Wave’s hope is simple: to provide more Africans with more affordable financial services. It focuses on providing users with low fees, which has helped millions of unbanked people join the formal financial system.
Wave raising $137 million
“I’m thrilled about this funding, it means we can help even more people by delivering the best possible product at the lowest possible price,” said Drew Durbin, CEO of Wave.
In September 2021, Wave became Francophone Africa’s first unicorn, with the company reaching a valuation of $1.7 billion after closing a $200 million Series A funding round. It made history by becoming the largest Series A round ever recorded for an African startup. It has since raised over $300 million in total funding.
Image: Wave
