Layoff
Jun 2022Wave cut about 15% of its workforce, affecting roughly 300 employees, and pulled back from newer markets such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Uganda to focus on Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
SourceCompany research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Overview
Wave Mobile Money is a Dakar-based fintech building affordable mobile money infrastructure across Africa. Its app and agent network support deposits, withdrawals, peer-to-peer transfers, bill payments, airtime, and business payments, with a mission to expand financial inclusion.
Primary product
Mobile money app and business payments platform
Founded
2017
Headquarters
Dakar, Senegal
Team size
1001-5000
Work style
Flexible
Industry
Financial Services
Sub-industry
Mobile money / fintech payments
Offices
Dakar, Senegal
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Washington, D.C., United States
New York, United States
Senegal
Côte d'Ivoire
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Gambia
Business model
consumer transaction fees
merchant payments and collections
business API / checkout fees
agent network cash-in/cash-out
bill payments and airtime
Funding
Stage
Debt financing
Total raised
$442.2M
Latest round
Debt Financing · Jun 2025
Latest amount
$137M
People & investors
Leadership
Founder & CEO
Regional Director
Chief Technology Officer
Kizito Okute
Head of Agent Operations
Chris Williamson
Head of Payments
Malick Gueye
General Manager, Senegal
Sid Sridhar
Head of Business
Emily Austin
Head of People
Katier Bamba
General Manager, Côte d'Ivoire
Kevin Odiorne
Head of Finance
Founders
Co-founder
Work & culture
Mission-driven, transparent, and product-focused culture with an emphasis on honest feedback, high learning velocity, simple execution, and making work-life balance sustainable.
Work style
Flexible
Compensation
Wave says pay is determined by a transparent formula based on skill and experience, with no negotiation-heavy process.
Benefits
flexible vacation (typically 21-30 days, excluding statutory holidays)
subsidized health care for employees and dependents
generous parental leave
flexible / remote-friendly work
Product & market
Pricing
Free deposits and withdrawals; 1% fee on money transfers; business payments are free up to 20k CFA/day, then 1%.
Differentiators
- —app-first rather than telecom-led USSD
- —free cash-in and cash-out
- —1% transfer fee
- —free QR card for non-smartphone users
- —own agent network with immediate cash availability
- —full-stack consumer and business payments infrastructure
- —transparent low-fee model
Technology
React Native
React
Python
PostgreSQL
CockroachDB
Kotlin
SQLAlchemy
CircleCI
dbt
Looker
Tableau
BambooHR
Workday
GitHub
Buildkite
Google Analytics
Figma
ClickUp
Ramp
Microsoft Intune
Customers
individual consumers
unbanked and underbanked people
small businesses
merchants
businesses using Wave Business APIs
agents
Competitors
Orange Money / Orange Finances Mobiles
Free Money
Expresso Telecom mobile money
traditional banks
other telecom-led mobile money providers
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
$150M-$200M
Estimated monthly visits
495.3K
Signals & risks
Latest news
Norfund · Jun 2025
Official press release announcing Wave's €117 million debt financing led by Rand Merchant Bank and development finance institutions, with use of proceeds for expansion across existing and new African markets.
TechCabal · Jun 2025
Reports Wave raised a $137 million debt round led by Rand Merchant Bank, supporting working capital and expansion. The article highlights Wave's low-fee model and scale in West Africa.
TechCrunch · Jul 2022
Reported that Wave laid off about 15% of its workforce, primarily in newer markets, and shifted focus back to Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
IFC · Jul 2022
IFC said it arranged a €90 million financing package for Wave's Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire subsidiaries, including its own loan and parallel loans from multiple lenders.
TechCrunch · Sep 2021
Announced Wave's $200 million Series A and $1.7 billion valuation, led by Sequoia Heritage, Founders Fund, Stripe, and Ribbit Capital.
Jobs and careers at Wave
0 jobs at Wave
No open positions
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