• Login
  • Register
Nairametrics
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
Nairametrics
No Result
View All Result
Home Companies Corporate deals

DEAL: African fintech startup, Wave, raises $200 million series A round at $1.7 billion valuation

Janet John by Janet John
September 7, 2021
in Corporate deals, Tech News
DEAL: African fintech startup, Wave, raises $200 million series A round at $1.7 billion valuation
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin

African mobile money provider, Wave has raised $200 million in a Series A round valuing the company at $1.7 billion. This is the largest Series A round raised for the region.

Investors in this round include Sequoia Heritage, a private investment fund and a subsidiary of Sequoia, Founders Fund, payments giant Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Partech Africa, and Sam Altman, the former CEO of Y Combinator and current CEO of OpenAI.

Wave was launched in 2018 by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk, the founders of popular remittance and YC-backed company, SendWave.

RelatedStories

Sam Altman says Meta is offering OpenAI staff $100 million to poach AI talent 

Sam Altman says Meta is offering OpenAI staff $100 million to poach AI talent 

June 18, 2025
OpenAI to acquire iPhone designer Jony Ive’s AI devices startup for $6.4 billion 

OpenAI to acquire iPhone designer Jony Ive’s AI devices startup for $6.4 billion 

May 22, 2025

SendWave, allowed users to safely and instantly send money from North America and Europe to numerous countries across Africa and Asia.

WorldRemit acquired Sendwave for up to $500 million in cash and stock. After this acquisition, Durbin and his team turned their attention to their mobile money product, Wave.

Drew Durbin, founder of Wave told Techcrunch, “We saw an opportunity to make a bigger impact by trying to build a better, much more affordable mobile money service than the telcos are building throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. We didn’t see any companies besides the telcos trying to solve that problem.”

According to Techcrunch, The two-year-old startup claims to be the largest mobile money player in Senegal, and over half of the country’s adults are active users. Wave wants to replicate this growth in Ivory Coast, the second market it officially expanded to last year.

Wave plans to deepen its presence in Senegal and Ivory Coast and grow its already 800-strong team across product, engineering, and business. The startup also plans to expand into other markets it feels are regulatory-friendly like Uganda.

Wave is the first unicorn from Francophone Africa and joins OPay and Flutterwave as the newly minted unicorns in Africa this year

What they are saying

Tidjane Deme general partner at Partech says “Since 2018, we’ve supported Wave because we were convinced mobile money is still an unsolved problem in Africa. Wave has great product design, stellar execution, and a strong financial trajectory. We are proud to see it become the first unicorn from Senegal.”

Sam Altman, former CEO of YCombinator said “I’ve known these founders for a long time, and I think they’re like off the charts good. I’ve been super impressed with their ability to figure out what users want and how to grow. I think the company is solving the most important problem around money transfer in Africa and fixing the inefficient agent networks.”

Tags: Drew DurbinLincoln QuirkSam AltmanTidjane DemeWAVEYcombinator
Janet John

Janet John

Janet John is a graduate of Chemical Engineering from the University of Uyo. She specializes in technical writing where she creates easy to read documentation, articles to clearly and efficiently explain highly complex processes. When she is not writing, she works as a freelance front-end developer

Related Posts

Sam Altman says Meta is offering OpenAI staff $100 million to poach AI talent 
Sectors

Sam Altman says Meta is offering OpenAI staff $100 million to poach AI talent 

June 18, 2025
OpenAI to acquire iPhone designer Jony Ive’s AI devices startup for $6.4 billion 
Deal Signals

OpenAI to acquire iPhone designer Jony Ive’s AI devices startup for $6.4 billion 

May 22, 2025
OpenAI, Microsoft face fresh lawsuit over ChatGPT training
Sectors

OpenAI negotiates new funding with Microsoft after $57.9 billion raised 

May 11, 2025
OpenAI names Fidji Simo CEO of Applications to lead global operations 
Appointments

OpenAI names Fidji Simo CEO of Applications to lead global operations 

May 8, 2025
OpenAI, ChatGPT
Sectors

OpenAI announces temporary limit on ChatGPT’s new image generation feature 

March 28, 2025
OpenAI partners with South Korea Kakao to develop AI products
Sectors

OpenAI partners with South Korea Kakao to develop AI products

February 4, 2025
Next Post
El Salvador blip triggers Bitcoin selloff as President urges ‘buy the dip’

El Salvador blip triggers Bitcoin selloff as President urges ‘buy the dip’

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Emple
nlng
first bank
Zenth Bank








DUNS

Recent News

  • Customs seizes N352 million contraband in 2 months, hands over cannabis to NDLEA in Lagos 
  • Six Nigerian startups make Google’s 2025 Africa Accelerator program 
  • Oncology expert decries N850,000 platelet cost, seeks stronger support for pediatric cancer care 

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

Customs seizes N352 million contraband in 2 months, hands over cannabis to NDLEA in Lagos 

Customs seizes N352 million contraband in 2 months, hands over cannabis to NDLEA in Lagos 

June 24, 2025
Six Nigerian startups make Google’s 2025 Africa Accelerator program 

Six Nigerian startups make Google’s 2025 Africa Accelerator program 

June 24, 2025
  • iOS App
  • Android App
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Markets
  • Sectors
  • Economy
  • Business News
  • Financial Literacy
  • Disclaimer
  • Ads Disclaimer
  • Copyright Infringement

© 2025 Nairametrics

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Exclusives
    • Financial Analysis
    • Corporate Stories
    • Interviews
    • Investigations
    • Metrics
    • Economy
    • Nairalytics
  • Markets
    • Currencies
    • Cryptos
    • Commodities
    • Equities
      • Company Results
      • Dividends
      • Stock Market
    • Fixed Income
    • Market Views
    • Securities
  • Sectors
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Company News
    • Consumer Goods
    • Corporate Updates
    • Corporate deals
    • Corporate Press Releases
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Health
    • Hospitality & Travel
    • Manufacturing
    • Real Estate and Construction
    • Renewables & Sustainability
    • Tech News
  • Business News
    • Budget
    • Public Debt
    • Funds Management
    • Tax
  • Financial Literacy
    • Career tips
    • Personal Finance
  • Lifestyle
    • Billionaire Watch
    • Profiles
  • Opinions
    • Blurb
    • Op-Eds
    • Research Analysis
  • Recapitalization
    • Access Holdings Offer
    • Fidelity Bank Offer
    • GTCO Offer
    • Zenith Bank Offer
  • Login
  • Sign Up

© 2025 Nairametrics