We're making Africa the first cashless continent.
In 2017, nearly 60% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That's for good reason—the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.
We're solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don't always work, you can still send money with Wave. In November 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. In 2019, we expanded to Cote D'Ivoire. Now, we have millions of users and are growing fast. Our goal is to drive financial inclusion and to make Africa the first cashless continent.
In 2017, nearly 60% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That's for good reason—the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.
We're solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don't always work, you can still send money with Wave. In November 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. In 2019, we expanded to Cote D'Ivoire. Now, we have millions of users and are growing fast. Our goal is to drive financial inclusion and to make Africa the first cashless continent.
Location: Senegal, Dakar Region, Dakar
Employees: 501-1000
Total raised: $10M
Founded date: 2017
Investors 7
Funding Rounds 1
| Date | Series | Amount | Investors |
| 06.12.2022 | Private Eq... | $10M | Alameda Re... |
Mentions in press and media 25
| Date | Title | Description |
| 13.09.2024 | The ‘Big Four’ fallacy: Rethinking African markets | This article was contributed to TechCabal by Dotun Olowoporoku. Here’s a thought experiment: What if your fundamental assumptions about investing in African startups were wrong? What if the Big Four markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and South ... |
| 26.06.2024 | Rethinking fintech distribution in Africa: The role of ‘undiscovered founders’ | Flashy new tech companies and cutting-edge tech get a lot of buzz. But for investors, the real excitement lies in booming tech hubs, areas where new companies are constantly popping up, fueled by money from around the world. These up-and-co... |
| 06.06.2024 | Navigating Remittances: The Best Channel for Sending Money to South Sudan | Share Tweet Share Share Email In today’s interconnected global economy, remittances are crucial for connecting families and supporting livelihoods across borders. However, sending money to countries like South Sudan involves numerous challe... |
| 18.05.2023 | The ‘big four’ are not reducing steam, but new leaders are emerging in Africa’s tech ecosystem TechCabal’s 2021 Year-End report Success! | The ‘big four’—Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya— are all known for pulling the weights in Africa’s tech ecosystem, however, new countries are emerging as frontiers and are rapidly carving out their space in the tech landscape. Africa... |
| 11.10.2022 | Mobile money is surging in Africa as more disruption occur | At TechCabal’s Future of Commerce event, held on 23rd September, a panel session was put together to discuss the impact of mobile money on payments and commerce in Africa. There, Damilare Dosunmu, staff writer with TechCabal and panel host,... |
| 15.08.2022 | FS Weekly 45: How to define your priorities after product/market fit + other readings | Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Society | 15 August 2022 | No. 45 Hi there: I'm Ruhul. I convene Future Startup Weekly to help you understand entrepreneurship and the technology landscape in Bangladesh and beyond. If you enjoy this, feel... |
| 15.08.2022 | #TechCEO: Wave Mobile Money Founder Drew Durbin Aims to Transform Africa as the First Cashless Content | Joseph Henry, Tech Times 15 August 2022, 01:08 pm With today's technology, when it comes to payment systems, people usually prefer to go cashless rather than carrying physical money. Wave Mobile Money, a company focused on bringing innovati... |
| 25.02.2022 | Africa is on track to hit $7b, or more, in startup funding this year | African startups seem to have developed herd immunity against the economic fallout from COVID-19, raking in a record $1 billion in just 7 weeks to mid-February 2022, underpinning strong investor sentiment in the continent’s fizzing tech sce... |
| 04.02.2022 | 13 African tech startups to watch out for in 2022 | 2021 was a watershed year for both VC firms and startups in Africa’s tech ecosystem. As businesses re-opened and people went back to living their lives, they continued with habits they picked up during lockdowns. Owing to this consumer tren... |
| 08.09.2021 | Senegal's Wave grabs $200M Series A | Wave, a provider of mobile money services that's based in the US and Senegal, has reportedly raised a $200 million Series A led by Sequoia Heritage, Founders Fund, Stripe and Ribbit Capital at a valuation of $1.7 billion. Though similar to ... |
Show more