Wave: the fascinating story of an American-led, Senegal-based unicorn
Through aggressive pricing and a modern interface, a fintech birthed by two American founders unexpectedly takes the lead in francophone Africa.
A calling
Before understanding Wave, one has to comprehend its progenitors and their previous creations. Our protagonists today are Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk, two Americans who met during their time at the University of Brown, in Rhode Island. The duo graduated in 2008. Their first, consequent entrepreneurial breakout would originate around 2012.
After getting into the famed Y-Combinator incubator with a dating app idea, the pair decided to pivot to a product aimed at simplifying “remittances”, money sent by diaspora members to their country of origin. The idea supposedly came from Drew’s frustration with the high fees incurred when sending money to his NGO in Tanzania.
From that pivot, Sendwave was born. Banking on a significant reduction of sending fees and a simple UI, in a sector known for its centennial institutions, Sendwave made a splash. In 2021, the company was acquired by WorldRemit, another important neo-actor in the digital remittance business, for a cool $500M.