PawaPay, a UK-based fintech startup, has achieved a significant milestone in the African mobile payments landscape. With three billion mobile money transactions processed, the company has not only reached a substantial number but also demonstrated remarkable growth, achieving its latest billion in under nine months and doubling its daily transaction volume to five million payments. This achievement is particularly notable given the context of Africa's thriving mobile money economy, which was valued at $1.4 trillion in 2025, according to the GSMA's report.
The company's success is attributed to its innovative approach, connecting businesses to nearly 50 mobile operators across 20 African countries through a single API. This allows merchants to seamlessly accept and disburse payments without the need for separate integrations for each market. Since its launch in 2020, PawaPay has processed over €10 billion in payments, showcasing its rapid growth and impact.
Jamie Steell, the company's Chief Operating Officer, highlights the consistent 20% year-on-year growth in mobile money as a principal means of digital payments on the continent. This growth is fueled by a combination of factors, including a young and tech-savvy population, declining smartphone costs, cheaper internet access, and the rapid digitization of commerce. Steell emphasizes the digital environment's growth, which is driving the expansion of merchants onto PawaPay's platform.
The shift in mobile money usage is also evident. Initially, the growth was driven by person-to-person transfers and remittances. However, today, a significant portion of activity comes from businesses using mobile money to collect and send payments across multiple African markets. This trend is further supported by the GSMA's data, which shows that merchant payments are the fastest-growing use case, rising by 42% year-on-year to $155 billion in 2025.
Despite the increasing transaction volumes, mobile money remains primarily a payments tool rather than a store of value. Most users still opt to cash out funds rather than keeping money within mobile money ecosystems. According to the GSMA, cash remains the dominant method for funds to enter and leave mobile money networks, although transfers between banks and mobile wallets are becoming more common.
Steell predicts that the next phase of growth will occur when users begin treating mobile money wallets as primary financial accounts. He envisions a future where mobile money wallets become the primary destination for money, offering a range of use cases from merchant payments to savings and investments. This shift, he believes, will lead to exponential growth in the mobile money ecosystem.
The strongest growth on PawaPay's network is currently observed in Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Uganda, which aligns with the GSMA's data showing that East Africa accounted for three-quarters of global merchant payment growth in 2025. The company's interest in expanding its presence in Nigeria, a huge market, is also noted, despite the dominance of fintech-led wallets in the country.
In conclusion, PawaPay's achievement of three billion transactions is a testament to the growing importance of mobile money in Africa. As the industry continues to evolve, the company's innovative approach and focus on business integration are likely to play a significant role in shaping the future of digital payments on the continent.
