Wave is top-earning YC company in Africa according to the 2024 opt-in list.
For the second time in a row, Senegalese fintech Wave has been listed as the only African Y Combinator (YC) alumni with the highest revenue, according to the 2024 list.
While the specific figure remains undisclosed, Wave joins a company of 47 others, including tech giants Airbnb, Coinbase and Reddit, who collectively raked in $57.2 billion in revenue last year.
“Revenue is the clearest indicator of a startup’s success, and we’re excited to see so many different types of companies represented,” said Garry Tan, President and CEO of Y Combinator. The companies on this list are collectively valued at $458 billion.
It’s important to note that the featured companies voluntarily opted in, so it may not capture every high-performing YC startup on the continent. Y Combinator has backed over 100 African companies, with Wave being its very first.
Riding on the Wave
Wave offers free mobile deposits and withdrawals, a flat 1% fee for money transfers, bill payments with potential business fees, and a free QR card with agent support for those without smartphones.
Founded in Dakar in 2018 by Americans Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk, Wave became Francophone Africa’s first unicorn, raising $200 million in Series A (2021) and $91.5 million in loans from the World Bank’s IFC.
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“The Wave model is disruptive because it is funded by venture capital funds with little commitment to short-term profitability. It resembles the Amazon model: We burn cash … hoping to kill the competition,” said Alioune Ndiaye, Orange Money’s former Africa and Middle East lead, told Jeune Afrique.
In another interview, Stanislas Akueson, an economic research analyst at the University of Lome in Togo, said: “Every startup in Africa needs to take a leaf out of Wave’s book. The lessons from these events are worthwhile. Everything was against the company when it arrived in 2018. Its competitors had already gained a foothold in the market, but Wave was able to carve out a space for itself by doing what others were not doing. Wave saw what the big players did not see, and that is what all startups must aim at.”
According to Coura Sène, its West Africa director, Wave has more than ten million users in the six countries where it operates – Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali, Uganda and Gambia.
Despite its growth, Wave wasn’t immune to the economic downturn. In 2022, they reduced their workforce by 15% citing “challenging market conditions.”
