Wallets/wave-money
Wave Money (WavePay)
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Overview
Wave Money (WavePay) is Myanmar's mobile financial services pioneer, operated by Digital Money Myanmar Limited [1, 2, mm-cro]. Founded 2016 as joint venture between Yoma Bank + Telenor Group (Telenor exited Jan 2022). Wave Money has 210,000+ business partners + ~60,000 agent outlets nationwide + 1.1+ million WavePay monthly active users by 2025.
January 2022 — Telenor exit: Telenor Group agreed to sell its 51% stake in Wave Money for $53 million to Yoma Strategic Holdings — strategic withdrawal as Telenor exited Myanmar amid 2021 coup.
2025 — 2C2P WAVE wallet launch [3]: Wave Money partnered with 2C2P for the "2C2P WAVE" wallet app — facilitating fast + secure remittances for ~1.2 million Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.
History
2016 — Wave Money launches [2]: JV between Yoma Bank + Telenor Group.
2018 — Telenor 51% majority stake.
January 2022 — Telenor exits Wave Money [4]: Yoma Strategic Holdings buys Telenor's 51% for $53M.
2022-2024 — Yoma Strategic + Yoma Bank-led expansion [1]: 210K+ business partners + 60K agents + 1.1M WavePay MAU.
2025 — 2C2P WAVE Thailand-migrant wallet [3].
Ownership & operator
Operating entity: Digital Money Myanmar Limited (Wave Money operator).
Current owners: Yoma Strategic Holdings + Yoma Bank (Yoma Group).
Historical: Telenor Group held 51% until January 2022 exit ($53M sale to Yoma Strategic).
Regulator: Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM).
Technical integration
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Channels | WavePay mobile app + agent network + 2C2P WAVE (TH migrant remittance, 2025+) |
| Identifiers | Phone |
| Agent outlets | ~60,000 nationwide (entire Myanmar coverage) |
| Business partners | 210,000+ (utilities + bill payments + e-commerce checkout) |
| Yoma Bank integration | WavePay + Yoma Bank SMART Account fund transfer integration |
| Thailand migrant | 2C2P WAVE wallet for ~1.2M Myanmar migrant workers in TH (2025+) |
| Account model | Mobile-money-style (no bank account required) |
Users & growth
2025 baseline [1]:
- WavePay MAU: 1.1+ million
- Agent outlets: ~60,000
- Business partners: 210,000+
- Nationwide coverage: Entire Myanmar
- TH-migrant remittance: ~1.2 million Myanmar workers in Thailand (2C2P WAVE)
Use cases
P2P transfers + cash-in/cash-out via 60K agent network; bill payments (utilities); e-commerce checkout (210K+ business partners); Yoma Bank SMART Account integration; cross-border remittances Thailand → Myanmar via 2C2P WAVE (2025+).
Implementations & partners
Operator: Digital Money Myanmar Limited (Wave Money).
Owners: Yoma Strategic Holdings + Yoma Bank (Yoma Group).
Banking partner: Yoma Bank (WavePay-Yoma SMART Account fund transfers).
Cross-border remittance partner (2025+): 2C2P (2C2P WAVE wallet for TH-Myanmar migrants).
Major Myanmar competitors: [[kbzpay]] (KBZ Bank; 19M+ users, 43% adult-population penetration — Myanmar's largest mobile wallet by far), OnePay (Myanmar), MPU (Myanmar Payment Union national rails).
Regulator: Central Bank of Myanmar.
Fun facts
- 2016 launch by Yoma Bank + Telenor JV.
- January 2022 Telenor exit — Yoma Strategic buys 51% for $53M amid Telenor Myanmar exit.
- 60,000 agent outlets nationwide — largest Myanmar agent network.
- 1.1M+ WavePay MAU + 210K+ business partners.
- 2025 2C2P WAVE wallet for 1.2M Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand — distinctive migrant-remittance positioning.
- Yoma Bank SMART Account integration.
Comparison
| Feature | Wave Money | [[kbzpay]] (MM rival) | [[gcash]] (PH analogous mobile-money) | [[m-pesa]] (KE analogous mobile-money) | [[truemoney]] (TH analogous cross-border) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Digital Money Myanmar Limited (Yoma Strategic + Yoma Bank) | KBZPay (KBZ Bank) | GCash (Globe + Ant Group + 667 Partners) | Safaricom + Vodacom | TrueMoney (CP Group + Ascend Money) |
| Type | MM mobile financial services + cross-border TH-migrant | MM #1 mobile wallet by KBZ Bank | PH mobile wallet → bank | KE mobile-money pioneer | TH mobile wallet + SEA cross-border |
| Country | Myanmar | Myanmar | Philippines | Kenya + East Africa | 6 SE Asian |
| Users | 1.1M MAU + 60K agents + 210K partners | 19M (43% adult penetration) | 81M+ | 51M | 27M+ TH |
| Cross-border | 2C2P WAVE TH-migrant (2025+) | n/a | Visa Direct + multiple | M-Pesa Global | SEA-wide |
Status
Active, Myanmar mobile-money pioneer [1, 3]:
- Wave Money (Digital Money Myanmar Limited) since 2016.
- Yoma Strategic + Yoma Bank-owned (post-Telenor-exit Jan 2022).
- 1.1M+ WavePay MAU + 60K agents + 210K business partners.
- 2025 2C2P WAVE TH-migrant remittance wallet (~1.2M Myanmar workers in TH).
- CBM-regulated.
Sources
- 1 Wave Money — official
- 2 Wave Money — Grokipedia
- 3 WavePay 1.1M MAU record — PR Newswire
- 4 Yoma + Telenor $53M Wave Money — DealStreetAsia
- mm-cro In-corpus:
reports/countries/MM-myanmar.md
Source
Biography extracted from wave-money.md. See matrix.md for standards-support matrix if present.