“Can a smartphone-native, low-fee mobile money operator displace telco-led incumbents to become the financial infrastructure for Francophone Africa?”
Wave was founded in 2018 by Sendwave founders Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk to attack the high-fee mobile money market in Francophone Africa, which had been dominated by telco-led providers (Orange Money, MTN MoMo). Its core thesis: build a smartphone-app-first mobile money network with sub-1% transfer fees and free deposits/withdrawals, displacing telecom incumbents. By 2021 it became Francophone Africa's first unicorn. Note: this Wave is distinct from Wave Financial (waveapps.com), the Toronto-based H&R Block-owned SMB accounting/payments software company — the two are unrelated.
Wave discloses Wave Mobile Money / Wave Transfer Limited / Wave Digital Finance (in-house) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Wave does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Wave Mobile Money / Wave Transfer Limited / Wave Digital Finance (in-house).
Wave processes payments through Wave (self-operated mobile money) and Wave Checkout API (self-operated).
Wave's payroll is powered by Check.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 3 layers in Wave's stack: Payments / PSP (Wave (self-operated mobile money) and Wave Checkout API (self-operated)); Banking / BaaS (Wave Mobile Money / Wave Transfer Limited / Wave Digital Finance (in-house)); Payroll (Check).
Wave was founded by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk and is founded in 2018, headquartered in Dakar, Senegal / San Francisco, USA.
Wave has raised $200M+ (Series A) in total (latest round: Series A, 2021; valuation: $1.7B (2021)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Wave and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.