[Transcript] #28: Sendwave - How the mobile remittances service scaled from Y Combinator to a $500M WorldRemit exit
Transcript for podcast originally recorded on May 2, 2021
😉 Hello Afrobility readers and listeners!
In May 2021, we explored the story of Sendwave, which was a fun to dissect because of three reasons:
Exit size: Sendwave's acquisition by WorldRemit amounted to a whopping $500M, one of the most substantial exits in African tech history.
Economic impact: The emigration of Africans abroad has made remittances a vital source of income for numerous individuals on the continent.
WealthTech entry point: We also discussed the less obvious yet compelling perspective of remittances serving as a gateway into the Consumer Fintech.
Companies discussed: Sendwave (Remittances), Wave (Mobile money / Consumer FinTech), WorldRemit (Zepz), Chipper Cash, Transferwise, Remitly, Western Union, MoneyGram & Safaricom
Business concepts discussed: African remittances, Personal Finance OS & Neobanks
Enjoy & DFTBA!
Olumide Ogunsanwo
Personal: Website
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Firedom Book: Financial Independence stories of African Immigrants (Website, Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)
Transcript starts here
[00:00:00] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Welcome to Afrobility, a conversation about African business and technology. Today, we're going to talk about Sendwave, the mobile remittances service that was acquired by World Remit in August 2020. We'll start with some context of African remittances. We'll discuss Soundwave's early history, Growth Over Time, Acquisition by World Remit.
And then we'll end with our general thoughts and overall outlook. This episode was recorded on May 2nd, 2021. BNKY. How’s it going?
[00:00:29] Bankole Makanju: BNKY! You need to help me with these like I need to hire you to get my new Twitter handle so I can be cool again.
[00:00:37] Olumide Ogunsanwo: BNKY sounds like a fashion label, an up and coming fashion label.
[00:00:41] Bankole Makanju: I used to be Banky M on Twitter back in the day, but you probably don't know this. No. And then I changed it. It was weird. Cause there's another musician called Banky W
[00:00:50] Olumide Ogunsanwo: You didn't want any clashing.
[00:01:01] Bankole Makanju: Yeah, there's a lot of overlap in our career paths.
[00:01:04] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Okay, so what are we talking about today?
[00:01:06] Bankole Makanju: Sendwave and remittances
[00:01:07] Olumide Ogunsanwo: What is Sendwave? It's like a mobile only remittances service that's focused on developing countries. They're in a bunch of African countries. And recently they've also branched out to some other non African countries. So about 10 ish African countries, then two other developing countries, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka outside of Africa. So think about it like a simple app, basic UX, it just enables people to send money to, to developing countries.