Airtel Africa is set to take its mobile money platform public in 2025 as it continues to expand the service to more African countries. Currently, the mobile money service is operating in 14 countries.
“We will list in 2025 and continue bringing additional countries into the envelope. We are still a year from that IPO,” says Airtel CEO Olusegun Ogunsanya. Unfortunately, he did not disclose the preferred stock exchange for the listing.
Surprising for many, Airtel Money is currently the fastest-growing division of Airtel Africa, with an estimated valuation of over $4 billion. The company’s latest financial results paint a very different picture compared to the previous year. This year, the company reported an after-tax loss of $89 million, a significant drop from the $750 million profit they boasted at the end of last year.
This sharp decline in profitability can be traced back to challenge economic conditions that persisted throughout the year, impacting many companies.
Despite the financial issues, Airtel’s mobile money transaction value saw a 38.2% increase in constant currency, with its annual transaction value just above $112 billion.
Customers of the mobile money service also grew by 20% to 38 million, because of the continuous powerful performance in French-speaking African nations and East Africa. These countries include Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Gabon, and DR Congo,
According to Ogunsanya, the winning strategy is to be the first to implement key infrastructures and distribution, enabling a good head start. “We were the first to deploy ATMs, giving us a significant head start. With a well-established system, our network boasts 29,000 mobile money branches. We have been effective in leveraging our infrastructure to our advantage.”
This mobile money IPO move by Airtel Africa follows a trend of investments in African mobile money provides by Mastercard. The international transaction processing service provider has acquired a minor stake in MTN’s mobile money division just two years after investing $100 million in Airtel Money.
