PawaPay processes 3 billion payments across Africa

PawaPay has processed three billion mobile money transactions across Africa, reaching this in less than nine months.

The UK-based fintech said it now handles about five million transactions daily, double its previous volume. Since launching in 2020, the company has processed more than €10 billion ($11.63 billion) in payments through its platform.

PawaPay connects businesses to nearly 50 mobile money operators across 20 African countries through a single application programming interface (API). The system allows merchants to accept and send payments without building separate integrations for each market.

“Mobile money, as the principal means of digital payments on the continent, is growing year on year,” Jamie Steell, PawaPay’s chief operating officer, told TechCabal. “It’s like 20% up year on year consistently.”

Steell attributed the growth to a young population, falling smartphone prices and improved internet access. He also pointed to the rapid digitisation of commerce across the continent.

“There is a digital environment growth that is happening, and that is driving growth of all our merchants that we see come onto our pipes,” he said.

Industry data supports that trend. According to GSMA, more than $2.1 trillion flowed through mobile money systems globally in 2025. Merchant payments were the fastest-growing segment, rising 42% year-on-year to $155 billion.

GSMA also reported a 59% increase in active merchants accepting mobile money payments during the year.

Despite the growth, mobile money remains primarily a payments tool rather than a savings platform. Most users still move funds in and out of mobile wallets instead of keeping money within the ecosystem.

Steell believes that could change over the next few years.

“In five years, mobile money wallets have to become where the money goes into and stays there because of the use cases for that, from merchant payments to savings to investments,” he said.

The strongest growth on PawaPay’s network is coming from Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon and Uganda. Those markets mirror broader industry trends, with East Africa accounting for most global merchant payment growth in 2025.

Nigeria remains a market of interest for the company, although its presence there is still limited. PawaPay currently processes payments for a small number of merchants and does not yet operate as a full payment aggregator in the country.

“Nigeria is a huge market. We are not ignorant to the opportunity that exists in Nigeria,” Steell said. “Expanding our operation there is definitely something that we are interested in doing.”