Wave company profile: valuation, funding & revenue

This Wave company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Wave works in fintech, with a focus on mobile money and payments in West Africa. It was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. Its latest valuation on record is US$1.7 billion (September 2021). Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.

Revenue

Funding history

Wave timeline

Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.

• 2018 — Wave is founded in Dakar by Drew Durbin (CEO) and Lincoln Quirk.
• Sep 2021 — Series A: US$200M, valuing the company at US$1.7B. Investors: Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Ribbit Capital, Stripe.
• Jun 2025 — Debt financing: US$137M (€117M). Investors: Rand Merchant Bank (lead); British International Investment, Finnfund, Norfund.
• July 2025 — Users and agents: More than 20 million monthly users, about 150,000 agents and around 3,000 employees in eight West African countries.
• July 2025 — Pricing: Free deposits and withdrawals; flat 1% fee on transfers.

Investors

Overview

Wave is a mobile money service in West Africa that lets people send, receive and store money using a simple app or a basic phone, and deposit or withdraw cash through a large network of local agents. Its defining feature is price: deposits and withdrawals are free, and transfers cost a flat 1%, far less than the fees traditional mobile money operators charged when Wave launched. That pricing helped it win tens of millions of users quickly in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, and it now operates in eight countries.

Drew Durbin, the CEO, and Lincoln Quirk founded Wave in 2018. They had previously built Sendwave, an app for sending money from the US and Europe to Africa, which was sold to WorldRemit in 2020. Wave is based in Dakar, Senegal, and in 2021 became the first unicorn in francophone Africa.

How Wave works

Users get a free account linked to their phone number. To add money, they hand cash to a Wave agent, often a small shop, and the balance appears in their account; to cash out, they reverse the process. They can send money to anyone with a Wave account, pay bills and merchants, and receive transfers from abroad. Wave also issues QR cards so people without smartphones can use the service. It invested heavily in building its own agent network rather than relying on telecom operators' networks.

Disrupting incumbents

Before Wave, mobile money in much of West Africa was dominated by telecom operators such as Orange, whose Orange Money charged fees that could reach several percent or more per transaction. Wave's flat 1% fee and free cash-in and cash-out forced competitors to cut prices sharply. That price war benefited consumers enormously, but it also made the market less profitable for everyone, including Wave. The company has since focused on efficiency and new revenue sources.

Business model

Wave earns revenue from transfer fees, merchant payments, bill payments and international remittances, and from interest on the float, the money users hold in their accounts. Because fees are low, it needs very high volumes and an efficient operation. It pays agents commissions for cash handling, which is one of its main costs. Wave doesn't publish revenue, so we show it as not disclosed.

Funding

In September 2021, Wave raised a US$200 million Series A, at that time one of the largest Series A rounds in African history, at a US$1.7 billion valuation. Investors included Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Ribbit Capital and Stripe. It has since relied heavily on debt to fund agent liquidity and working capital: an IFC-arranged package of about US$90 million, and in June 2025 a US$137 million (€117 million) debt round led by Rand Merchant Bank with British International Investment, Finnfund and Norfund. We haven't found a newer equity round, so the 2021 valuation remains its last disclosed figure.

Competition

Wave competes with telecom-operated mobile money services, especially Orange Money and MTN Mobile Money, with banks, with other fintechs, and with informal cash systems. Its advantages are its low prices, product simplicity, agent network and strong brand among users in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Wave at a glance

Wave is a Dakar mobile money company founded in 2018 by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk. It charges no fees for deposits and withdrawals and a flat 1% for transfers, and had more than 20 million monthly users and about 150,000 agents across eight West African countries in 2025. It raised a US$200 million Series A at US$1.7 billion in 2021 and US$137 million in debt in 2025.

Why agent liquidity requires debt

Mobile money depends on agents having enough cash and enough electronic balance to serve customers. When many people cash out at once, agents need cash; when they deposit, agents need e-money. Wave helps agents manage that liquidity, which requires working capital. Debt from banks and development finance institutions is well suited to funding this, because it is backed by predictable flows and doesn't dilute shareholders. Our guide to venture debt explains how growth companies use debt alongside equity.

Financial inclusion

Many adults in West Africa don't have bank accounts, and cash remains dominant. Low-cost mobile money allows people to save, receive wages and remittances, and pay for goods without carrying cash or paying high fees. Development finance institutions back companies like Wave partly for this reason: cheaper digital payments can raise incomes and reduce the costs of being poor. Lower transfer fees also mean more of each remittance from abroad reaches families.

Risks

• Competition: telecom operators have large customer bases and can subsidise prices.
• Regulation: central banks set rules on mobile money, fees and licensing.
• Profitability: very low fees require scale and efficiency.
• Expansion: each new country requires building agent networks from scratch.

Investors and regulators will also watch how Wave balances low prices with the investment needed to keep its agent network reliable as it grows into new countries. Agent quality, meaning reliable cash availability and honest service, is central to user trust in mobile money.

Latest developments (October 2026)

Wave is widening its product range in Senegal. In a February 2026 interview with Financial Afrik, the head of Wave Digital Finance described transit ticketing, a Visa virtual card and credit, savings and insurance products in preparation. Central bank data reported by Senego in August 2026 put Wave's share of Senegal's outstanding electronic money at about 80%. No new funding has been announced. See our largest African startups guide.

What to watch

Watch expansion into new markets, new revenue sources such as merchant payments and credit, profitability, and any new equity round.

For readers

Businesses in West Africa can accept low-cost digital payments. Fintech founders can learn how price can be a powerful weapon in a concentrated market. Investors should weigh Wave's scale against the margin pressure its own pricing created. Similar models exist in Nigeria with Moniepoint and in East Africa with M-KOPA.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.

1. FinTech Futures
2. Fintech News Africa