PRESS RELEASE

Delphos advises African Mobile Money Unicorn on Euro 90 million Syndicated Loan

Delphos serves as exclusive advisor to Wave on IFC-led facility in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal

Washington DC, USA -  - 22 July 2022 - Delphos acted as exclusive advisor to Wave Mobile Money Holdings Inc. (“Wave”) on its highly successful €90 million Syndicated Loan, which will further accelerate Wave’s dynamic growth in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.

The loan saw substantial interest from development finance institutions and impact funds and comprises commitments of €25 million from IFC, €12 million from and €12 million from Norfund in the form of bilateral loans.  An additional €41 million was raised from impact funds Symbiotics, Blue Orchard, responsAbility, and Lendable, who participated under the IFC’s B Loan program.

This debt financing sets a new high-water mark for a growth stage African FinTech in terms of total commitments raised. 

“This investment by IFC, Finnfund, Norfund and other lenders helps us offer a diversity of financial products, encouraging users to stay within the formal financial sector, deepening financial inclusion in the region” said Coura Sene, Wave’s General Manager for the WAEMU Region.

Wave appointed Delphos as advisor based on its combination of Africa debt expertise and deep grasp of technology investments.

“At Delphos we advocate that impact capital can be leveraged through technology investments. The scalability of tech platforms and the broader trend towards digitization should lead to outsized benefits in frontier markets, provided the impact capital is made available to innovative companies.  We were honored to serve as Wave’s advisor on this landmark transaction in West Africa.” said Andrew Brown, President of Delphos Advisory.

Delphos is committed to supporting financial inclusion in Africa via technology investments.

About Wave:

Wave is a Fintech, which via its subsidiaries, operates the fastest-growing mobile money product in Africa. Wave is an impact-first business with the ambition to financially include millions of financially excluded African adults. Our vision is to help Africa become the first cashless continent.

About Delphos:

Delphos is the definitive source for arranging innovative financial solutions for development companies and projects.  We specialize in raising long-term, competitively priced capital for corporates, fund managers, developers, SMEs, sovereigns, and entrepreneurs around the world. Since 1987, we have arranged more than $20 billion in development finance to support the efforts of over 1,200 companies. We tap into the resources of more than 350 government agencies and multilateral organizations worldwide to help clients realize their international business goals and have sustainable impact. In addition to our capital raising efforts, Delphos provides market-leading transaction advisory and investment/risk management consulting services to government and private sector clients across multiple industries. We are approved advisors to AfDB, DFC, IDB Invest, IFC, USAID, US Ex-Im Bank, USTDA, WBG, leading private equity firms, infrastructure developers and strategic investors, and foreign governments and utilities.

Media Contact:  

Lauren Imparato