Three billion transactions. That is the number PawaPay is celebrating after processing its latest billion in under nine months, while doubling its daily volume to five million payments. For a fintech founded in 2020, that kind of momentum is hard to ignore.
The London-based company connects businesses to nearly 50 mobile operators across 20 African countries through a single API. The idea is simple but powerful: merchants can accept and send payments across multiple markets without building a separate integration for each one. Since launching, PawaPay has processed more than 10 billion euros in total payments.
The broader mobile money economy gives that milestone serious context. Africa's mobile money market was worth 1.4 trillion dollars in 2025, and globally, more than 2.1 trillion dollars moved through mobile money channels that same year. Merchant payments are the fastest-growing slice of that pie, up 42 percent year-on-year to reach 155 billion dollars, according to GSMA.
PawaPay's chief operating officer Jamie Steell points to a mix of forces driving the growth: a young population, cheaper smartphones, more affordable internet access, and a rapid shift toward digital commerce. "Mobile money, as the principal means of digital payments on the continent, is growing year on year," he told TechCabal. "It's like 20% up year on year consistently."
For the longest time, mobile money was synonymous with sending cash to family or receiving money from abroad. That story is changing fast, and the businesses quietly building on top of these rails are the ones to watch.
Originally published by TechCabal.