Startup profile for Wave: latest funding, latest known valuation, total disclosed funding, investors, status, sources, and why the company is interesting. Part of the Venture Capital Tracker startup directory.
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Wave funding, valuation and investors

Mobile money and payments platform for Africa (Wave Senegal and beyond).

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Funding, valuation & investors

Answer-first snapshot

Latest funding

Not publicly disclosed

Latest known valuation

Not publicly disclosed

Total disclosed equity funding

Not publicly disclosed

Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.

Current status

private

series a · Dakar, Senegal / San Francisco

Source links not recorded Last verified: 2026-07-25

Overview

Wave provides mobile money services in Africa — deposits, transfers, bill pay, and merchant payments — with dramatically lower fees than incumbent telco wallets in markets like Senegal. Founded by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk, Wave raised large venture rounds including participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund, reaching unicorn valuation on transaction volume growth through agent networks and mobile app UX.

Why Wave is interesting

Wave undercut mobile money fees in West Africa — a16z and Founders Fund backed a rare consumer fintech unicorn outside US/EU with agent-network scale.

Product & use cases

Wave mobile app and agent network enable cash-in/cash-out, P2P transfers, and merchant payments — priced to displace legacy telco mobile money fees.

  • Senegalese consumers sending remittances domestically
  • Merchants accepting mobile payments
  • Agent banking in areas with limited bank branches

Key facts

  • a16z and Founders Fund among backers
  • Unicorn valuation on African mobile money volume
  • Low-fee model vs incumbent telco wallets in Senegal

Investors in our directory

Funds linked from Wave's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.

Andreessen Horowitz Founders Fund

Competitive landscape

Edge: Fee structure and UX versus Orange Money and legacy wallets — rapid adoption in Wave's core markets.

African mobile money is telco-dominated; Wave wins on price and product where it has license and agent density — expansion and regulation determine ceiling.

  • Orange Money incumbent

    Telco mobile money dominant in West Africa.

  • M-Pesa (East Africa) incumbent

    Regional mobile money leader; different geography.

  • Flutterwave / Paystack adjacent

    B2B payments infrastructure; different model.

Notable stories

  • Wave's founders attacked mobile money fees that taxed remittance flows in Senegal — venture backers bet agent-network fintech could beat telco incumbents on UX and price (press coverage).

Industries

Fintech Consumer

FAQs about Wave

Practical answers founders, operators, and investors typically search for.

Wave is a mobile money platform offering transfers, deposits, and payments in African markets like Senegal.
Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund among backers. See /fund/andreessen-horowitz and /fund/founders-fund.
Wave competes on lower fees and app UX versus telco-owned Orange Money in overlapping markets.
Senegal primary market; verify expansion on wave.com.
Mobile money operator under local regulatory frameworks — not a traditional bank.
Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk.
Not publicly disclosed; growth-stage emerging market fintech.
Transaction fees on transfers and merchant payments lower than legacy mobile money.
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By Venture Capital Tracker

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Editorial note: AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.