In the world of fintech, the Wave unicorn deserves its name, even if superlatives probably fit it better. It's not just a wave that it has created in the world of money transfer, but a veritable groundswell. 

How this start-up came into being, what its initial idea was and why it has been so successful, knowing that it has no intention of resting on its laurels: that's the story we're telling you today. 

The idea that changed everything 

Mobile payments exist in Africa, and for good reason: more than half of the African population has no bank account, and mobile payments are one of the only ways for people to make or receive money transfers. 

Until a few years ago, three operators (Orange, MTN and Moov) had a monopoly in this field. This monopoly enabled them to reap substantial profits, since they recouped between 3% and 10% on each transaction. 

University friends Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk share a passion for developing simple products with a strong social impact. 

They had the idea of creating a mobile money start-up about ten years ago, with less exorbitant rates. Enabling money transfers from North America and Europe to East Africa (Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenwa), the two partners understand that there is more to achieve. 

The African market is interesting because it's possible to compete, and above all, Africa is a land of start-ups. In fact, it's a bubbling ecosystem, particularly in the fintech sector. 

Wave's aim in Africa is to diversify its products and eventually lift people out of poverty, for example by providing them with savings tools. To achieve this, we need to create a financial network that is inclusive but can be understood by all, even if their financial situation is precarious. 

The idea is first and foremost to target people in rural areas who most often pay in cash. The result (no pun intended) has been a veritable tidal wave, so much so that the conquest of urban centers seems inevitable if the same success is to be reproduced.

 In a very short space of time, half of Senegal's adult population has already adopted this new price-smashing operator. 

The development and consecration of Wave

After conquering Senegal in 2018, it's now Côte d'Ivoire (in 2021) that's being swamped by the blue wave. 

Competitors were skeptical at first, but did not change their pricing practices, even though they ran a number of promotional campaigns to keep their customers coming back for more. But they were soon disillusioned: how could they fight such low prices without lowering their own? 

 They could indeed be worried, as the offer is inevitably more attractive for users: a fixed rate of 1% for national transfers and free money deposits and withdrawals. 

In view of this desertion on the part of their customers, these three operators no longer have the upper hand and have had to align themselves to remain competitive. As a result, rates have fallen by around 80%. Unprecedented. 

Wave is keen to establish partnerships, but the other operators are not in agreement, notably Orange. However, the start-up is communicating its difficulties and is not hesitating to use legal means to win its case, such as taking the matter to the French telecommunications regulator, which ruled in their favor: the entity will be able to distribute its competitor's phone credit on its platform. 

Stores offering the services of other operators are disappointed by this rapid success, as they have to quickly display Wave's emblems (the color blue and a friendly penguin) to keep customers coming back for more. However, due to the very high demand, the company is quickly saturated and falls behind on deliveries. 

In September 2021, due to its dazzling development on the African territory, Wave obtains an exceptional fundraising of 200 million dollars, after other less important fundraisings along the way of 13.8 million. It is now valued at over 1.7 billion dollars, making it a unicorn, having been created less than 10 years ago. It meets all the criteria. 

For Africa, this is a double success, as it's the first time this has happened in the continent's French-speaking community. 

Wave: key information 

While success in Africa is fairly recent (2018), the Wave company has been around since 2011, registering in Dakar 5 years later. 

In Senegal alone, Wave counted over 2,000 agents in 2020, and plans to multiply this figure by 4 in less than a year. One million users have switched to Wave in the country. 

As the entity has not gone public, it is not obliged to disclose its figures, but we do know that for the year 2020, sales will be in excess of 6 million euros, representing an increase between 2019 and 2020 of over 71%. 

For the time being, Wave keeps its unicorn status intact, and does not communicate on its ambition to be listed on the stock exchange. Stay tuned. 

Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire are certainly only the tip of the iceberg for Wave, which certainly intends to extend its monopoly to all other African countries, starting with Mali and Uganda. The entity intends, through its way of operating, to fight against the high cost of living; something that the telecoms regulatory authority underlines and encourages by the end of 2021. 

Although some retailers are concerned about this price cut, which will have a direct impact on them, as may also be the case for merchants specializing in electronic money, Wave is reassuring. 

She is counting on the increase in volume so that each stakeholder will find satisfaction in the massive establishment of the structure in Africa. 

Wave does not intend to limit its actions to its development in Africa, but hopes to bring about the emergence of a market that is currently non-existent: border transfers with the Uemoa. 

The start-up also hopes to use the data it possesses on its now numerous customers to find out about their financial behavior.

 It will then be possible to adapt the offer to needs, such as, why not, offering digital credit. Of course, this would require a banking license, but this approach doesn't seem to frighten Wave, which has proved over the years that it can overcome any obstacles. 

Slashing prices to attract more customers is certainly a tactic that works, even if it isn't necessarily innovative. Wave could have gambled on large transaction amounts, since it charges 1% each time. But it prefers the number of transactions carried out via the platform, which apparently proves to be an excellent choice. 

Once market share has been acquired in the territories where it is established, the start-up diversifies, building on its acquired power. 

With Wave, it's undoubtedly more the color that stands out, as well as the character through which the entity became known to the general public: the penguin.

 Blue is omnipresent, representing the sea, of course, and therefore the waves; translation of this unicorn's name. 

But Wave's slogan is also eloquent, even if it's at the bottom of the page on their website: "Ready to change the world? Quite a program...certainly already underway.