#28: Sendwave - How the mobile remittances service scaled from Y Combinator to a $500M WorldRemit exit

05/03/21 • 75 min

Overview: Today, we're going to talk about Sendwave - the mobile remittances service that was acquired by WorldRemit in 2020-Aug. We start with the context of African remittances, discuss Sendwave's early history, growth, acquisition by WorldRemit & end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on May 2nd, 2021

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, Market expansion entry & Consumer Fintech (WealthTech) entry strategy

Conversation highlights:

(01:15) - What is Sendwave and why we’re talking about it
(05:10) - Global Remittances context, size and trends
(11:30) - Remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa
(21:00) - Sendwave founding and early history
(25:15) - Product strategy - UX, fees, disbursement speed, integrations
(31:12) - Fundraising - Seed, series A and expansion
(43:20) - WorldRemit's $500M acquisition
(49:40) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
(58:30) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:09:38) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations, small wins & open questions:

Recommendation: Software is eating the rest of the world (By Derin Adebayo): Fabulous.
Recommendation: The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins). Amazing.
Small win: Flew to ATL to catch-up with a friend visiting. Awesome.

Bankole’s recommendations, small wins & open questions:

Recommendation: Promising Young Woman
Small win: Started a garden to grow vegetables
Other content: Symplifi & Wave Mobile Money Engineering blog

We’d love to hear from you. Please email [email protected] to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear.

Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com

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, Market expansion entry & Consumer Fintech (WealthTech) entry strategy

Conversation highlights:

(01:15) - What is Sendwave and why we’re talking about it
(05:10) - Global Remittances context, size and trends
(11:30) - Remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa
(21:00) - Sendwave founding and early history
(25:15) - Product strategy - UX, fees, disbursement speed, integrations
(31:12) - Fundraising - Seed, series A and expansion
(43:20) - WorldRemit's $500M acquisition
(49:40) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
(58:30) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:09:38) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations, small wins & open questions:

Recommendation: Software is eating the rest of the world (By Derin Adebayo): Fabulous.
Recommendation: The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins). Amazing.
Small win: Flew to ATL to catch-up with a friend visiting. Awesome.

Bankole’s recommendations, small wins & open questions:

Recommendation: Promising Young Woman
Small win: Started a garden to grow vegetables
Other content: Symplifi & Wave Mobile Money Engineering blog

We’d love to hear from you. Please email [email protected] to share feedback or propose topics you’d like to hear.

Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com

Previous Episode

#27: Takealot - How the South African online retailer became one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Africa

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about Takealot - the largest ecommerce platform in South Africa & one of the largest across Africa. We'll start by giving some context of e-commerce in South Africa, discuss Takealot's early history, Naspers' 2018 acquisition of Takealot, analyze Takealot business strategy & end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on April 18, 2021.

Companies discussed: Takealot, Take2, Naspers, Tiger Global, Jumia, Kalahari.net, BidorBuy, Kilimall, Amazon, Konga, Alibaba, Everyshop (JD Group), Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Massmart, Spar & MIH Africa

Business concepts discussed: Developing markets e-commerce, Pan-African expansion strategy & ecommerce marketplaces

Conversation highlights:

(01:20) - E-commerce and Takealot intro
(04:50) - South Africa Retail & e-commerce context
(15:30) - Takealot founding story: Take2, Tiger Global & Kim Reid
(21:30) - Acquisition of Superbalist, Mr Delivery; Tiger Global investment
(28:25) - Naspers takeover of Takealot from Tiger Global
(33:46) - Takealot today: Product and monetization, business units, key metrics
(45:10) - Competion: local, international & non-traditional
(54:55) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:04:07) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
(1:14:40) - Recommendation and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Super forecasting (by Phil Tetlock): Article & Book
Recommendation: Profit first (Mike Michalowicz)
Small win: Dinner with friends in Old Havana in Miami. Fun conversations
Other content: Notts County jersey vs Juventus jersey (story)

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendations: Leaving The Tarmac & Bring Back our Girls
Small win: Vaxxed, booked and busy!
Other content: Fantasy M&A: Takealot should get its head in the game & The New Futuristic Takealot Pick-up Point - YouTube

All episodes at Afrobility.com

Next Episode

#29: bKash - How the FinTech payments platform became Bangladesh’s largest tech company

Overview: Today we’re going to talk about bKash - The largest Fintech player in Bangladesh. We start with some background on Bangladesh, discuss bKash’s founding, growth & impact on Bangladesh's economy. We also discuss what other emerging markets can learn from the bKash story & end with our overall outlook. This episode was co-hosted with Shammi Quddus & recorded on May 16, 2021.

Companies discussed: bKash, CellBazaar, Money in Motion, Grameenphone, Grameen Bank, BRAC, BRAC Bank, Safaricom (M-Pesa), Nagad, Telenor, Gates Foundation, IFC (World Bank) & Alibaba (Ant Financial)

Business concepts discussed: Agency banking, ecosystem partnerships, microfinance expansion, Nonprofit fundraising, impact investing, Telco distribution & serial entrepreneurship

Conversation highlights: