Wave

Wave is a mobile money platform on a mission to make Africa the first cashless continent. Founded in 2018 by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk — who previously built Sendwave, the largest digital remittance company to Africa — Wave provides ultra-low-cost digital financial services to consumers and small businesses across Francophone Africa. Wave's model is radically affordable: it charges 1% or less per transaction, compared to 10-20% charged by traditional mobile money providers like Orange Money or MTN Mobile Money. Wave operates in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Uganda, and other African markets, with over 1,600 employees. In September 2021, Wave raised a landmark $200 million Series A at a $1.7 billion valuation — the largest Series A ever for an African startup and making it Francophone Africa's first unicorn. Investors include Sequoia Heritage, Founders Fund, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, and Partech.