PawaPay hits three billion mobile money transactions on essential services usage

PawaPay, a pan-African payments aggregator, has processed three billion successful mobile money transactions through its platform.

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, the firm reported.

PawaPay’s milestone reflects growing demand from businesses that need to collect and send payments reliably across multiple African markets.

Mobile money transaction values in Africa reached a record $1.43 trillion, marking 27 percent growth and accounting for over two-thirds of global transaction volumes, according to the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026. Globally, merchant payments surged to $155 billion, heavily driven by East and West African markets.

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.

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.”

Since 2022, the firm has also used stablecoins within its treasury operations to reduce settlement float and improve predictability across different currencies.

Over the past six years, PawaPay has supported businesses that use mobile money across sectors, including remittances, transport, digital services, and humanitarian payments. Companies, including Deriv and GiveDirectly, rely on PawaPay to operate across multiple African markets through a single integration.

The company stated that it has processed over €10 billion in payments to date as it supports merchants through a single integration that manages operator connectivity, settlement, FX, reconciliation, and regulatory coverage across its markets.