The journey of Wave began when its co-founders, Drew Durbin (CEO) and Lincoln Quirk (Head of Product) met as hallmates during freshman year at Brown University, an ivy league private institution in Rhode Island, United States. Drew and Lincoln became friends because they shared a passion for creating simple products with a social impact. And with Wave, they believe they can make Africa the first cashless continent.
However, they first built Sendwave in 2014, the money remittance company which was acquired by WorldRemit in 2020 for about $500 million in cash and stock. In 2020, Wave officially spun off from Sendwave with the mission to bring digital finance to everyone in Africa. Wave was piloted in Senegal from within the Sendwave ecosystem.
Wave is a peer-to-peer money transfer service that uses mobile money accounts rather than bank accounts.
“Customers can make deposits and withdrawals at physical agent locations without paying a fee, or they can use a smartphone app that takes a flat 1% cut of the money sent,” Drew explains.
The digital financial company which operates in both Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire has erased the old ways of sending and receiving money and come up with an easier and cheaper method that has taken both countries by storm.
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GROWTH
Within a few years of operation, Wave Mobile Money has risen to become Francophone Africa’s first unicorn at a valuation of $1.7 billion and with half of the mobile money accounts in Senegal.
The Senegal-based fintech startup raised $200 million in Series A funding on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, at a $1.7 billion valuation.
The round was led by Sequoia Heritage — an endowment-style fund operating independently under the Sequoia brand — Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, and payments giant, Stripe. Partech Africa and Sam Altman, ex-CEO of Y Combinator and current CEO of OpenAI, also participated in the round.
In 2022, Wave Mobile Money raised a €90 million syndicated loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, and other sources. The syndicated loan comprises loans from Symbiotics, Blue Orchard, Lendable, responsAbility Investments, Finnfund, and Norfund. This capital will help Wave Mobile Money boost financial inclusion and support economic growth in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.
Plans
Wave expanded to Ivory Coast in 2021 after launching operations in Senegal, its largest market, in 2018. Wave claims that its platform is Senegal’s largest mobile money player and is used by more than half of the country’s adults. Therefore, the startup hopes to replicate its success in the Ivory Coast, which became its second official market, with a user base of between four and five million people.
Wave intends to use the funding received in 2022 to expand its presence in Senegal and the Ivory Coast, as well as add to its already 800-strong product, engineering, and business teams.
Wave will also expand into other markets, like Uganda and Mali, where the regulatory environment appears to be friendly.
Source: Quartz Africa, Techpoint, TechCrunch, TechCabal, Wave. Business Elite Africa
