June 30, 2025
Norfund participates in a EUR 117 million debt raise to support Wave Mobile Money’s growth in Africa, alongside British International Investment (BII), Finnfund, and lead arranger Rand Merchant Bank (RMB).
The facility will support Wave’s continued expansion of affordable and user-friendly mobile financial services across West Africa and into new frontier markets.
Wave is a mobile money app that provides individuals and small businesses with a secure, affordable alternative to cash—enabling them to save, transfer money, pay bills, and access essential financial services. For many users, it serves as a first step into the formal financial system, helping to build financial identity and improve productivity.
“This new loan marks Norfund’s second investment in Wave, following our initial funding in 2022. Since then, Wave has demonstrated scalable and sustainable growth across its core markets. Its mobile-first model has been instrumental in expanding financial access for low-income individuals and small businesses—many of whom are entering the formal financial system for the first time,”
Marianne Halvorsen, Investment Director at Norfund
The new capital will strengthen Wave’s working capital position and accelerate its expansion across eight markets, including Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Gambia, while enabling further reach into underserved fragile states such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
“Since launching our Fintech Investment Strategy in 2022, we have expanded our portfolio to include digital-first companies driving financial inclusion across payments, embedded finance, digital lending, neobanking, and insurtech,”
Kathy Chang, Investment Manager at Norfund
Norfund typically provides direct investments of USD 5–20 million in high-quality fintech companies that are either profitable or have a clear path to profitability, primarily from Series A stage and beyond. Since establishing the FinTech Investment Strategy, Norfund has invested in Wave Money, Lula Lend, Amartha, Funding Societies, AwanTunai and earlier this year also in, OmniRetail in Nigeria.