Daily transaction volumes have risen from 2.4 million to five million
since September 2024, driven by growing use of mobile money across
transport, subscriptions, remittance and essential services
16th June, 2026 – PawaPay [2], a leading pan-African payments
aggregator, has processed three billion successful mobile money
transactions through its platform – a milestone that reflects growing
demand from businesses that need to collect and send payments reliably
across multiple African markets.
The third billion was processed in under nine months, three months
faster than the previous billion. Daily transaction volumes nearly
doubled over the same period, rising from approximately 2.4 million to
five million.
African mobile money grew 26% in transaction value last year, with
merchant payments globally up 50% to $155 billion (GSMA State of the
Industry Report 2026). PawaPay’s transaction volumes have grown faster
than the broader market across several of the sectors it supports.
Mobile money increasingly sits behind a long tail of smaller businesses
across the continent: from optical chains like Lapaire processing
eye-test and glasses payments across multiple markets, to e-commerce
operators in cities like Kampala, education technology platforms
collecting parent payments, and retail businesses processing daily
takings.
PawaPay connects businesses to almost 50 money operators across 20
African markets through a single API, giving access to more than a
billion wallets, with direct regulatory licences where required by local
frameworks. The company has processed over €10 billion in payments to
date.
PawaPay supports merchants through a single integration that manages
operator connectivity, settlement, FX, reconciliation and regulatory
coverage across its markets. Since 2022, the company has also used
stablecoins within its treasury operations to reduce settlement float
and improve predictability across different currencies.
Heiti Allak, Director of Product at PawaPay, said: “Businesses
expanding across Africa should not have to build a payments company
inside their own organisation. That is what happens when each new market
adds operator relationships, settlement flows, support processes and
treasury requirements. PawaPay takes that complexity away from the
business, enabling them to focus on their customers and growth. Three
billion transactions is what mobile money looks like when it sits behind
everyday economic activity, from transport and subscriptions to
remittance and humanitarian support.”
Over the past six years, PawaPay has supported businesses using mobile
money across sectors including remittance, transport, digital services
and humanitarian payments. Companies including Deriv and GiveDirectly
rely on PawaPay to operate across multiple African markets through a
single integration.
