- Airtel Money, which completes its London listing this week at about $7 billion, moves cash across 13 African countries with more than 2.3 million shopkeeper agents
- Bharti Airtel runs a similar business at home through Airtel Payments Bank, which takes a similar cut of every payment and must list by next year
- Last year, though, Airtel Money made $373 million in profit and the Indian bank made about $12 million, because UPI has taken most of India’s payments and left the bank a shrinking cash niche
- That is what the bank’s bankers will have to price, and it comes just as Africa’s own UPI-style payment switches start to cut into what makes Airtel Money so valuable
Fifty-seven people in Uganda. Thirty-one in Zambia. Thirteen in Kenya. That is how Airtel Money counts its staff in the prospectus for its London Stock Exchange listing, where trading in its shares starts today.
The African mobile-money company is worth about $7 billion and has just over 300 employees in all. In FY26, it clocked $1.35 billion in revenue. That is more than $4 million per head.
Most of the actual work, though, is done by people who aren’t on the payroll. Airtel Money has more than 2.3 million agents, mostly small-shop owners across 13 African countries.
An African fintech founder The Ken met at last week’s India Mobile Congress described how people actually use it. “I put Rs 100 into my Airtel Money wallet, then immediately go to an Airtel Money agent’s shop, show my phone, and withdraw Rs 100 in physical cash, which I then use to buy food, pay rent, or pay a shopkeeper,” he said. “If I need to send money to someone else, I put cash back into Airtel Money, send it, and the recipient withdraws it again.”
The wallet, as he put it, is “essentially a digital envelope for moving cash”. A June reportAffinity AfricaThe State of Cash Dependency on Africa’s cash dependency found that more than 90% of mobile-money value is withdrawn as soon as it arrives.
Airtel Money isn’t even the biggest maker of these envelopes. Its roughly 53 million monthly users trail MTN Momo (70.8 millionConnecting AfricaMTN fintech transactions boom, data remains growth engine) and Vodacom (103 millionTech.africaVodacom adds 6,160 5G sites, M-Pesa scales to 103m). What Airtel Money does have is a very useful parent.
Airtel Africa, the phone company that controls it, offers this to all its customers, since only Airtel’s mobile subscribers can open a wallet. It is also one of Airtel Money’s biggest customers. Last fiscal year, Airtel Africa companies paid Airtel Money about $265 million, a fifth of its revenue, to sell airtime, collect bills, and make bulk payouts.
Credits
Airtel Money is worth $7 billion because Africa never got UPI
Sumit Chakraborty
Know someone who'd appreciate this read?
Share this story with them.
This story is only available to subscribers of The Ken.
Already a subscriber? Log in
The only business subscription you need
Unrivaled analysis and powerful stories about businesses from award-winning journalists.
Read by 5,00,000+ subscribers globally who want to be prepared for what comes next.
-
MOST POPULAR
Only Free
+ Premium Podcasts
Only Free Podcasts
Access to podcasts covering the hottest business and startup trends in India
Only Free Podcasts
Access to podcasts covering the hottest business and startup trends in India
Partner Account Access
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Gift a 1 Year Subscription for Free
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
App Access
iPad App Access
Priority Access
To new product offerings, features, community features, and events
Daily Long-form
Stories
Daily Long-form Stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Daily Long-form Stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Only Subscriber
+ Premium
Newsletters
Only Subscriber Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Only Subscriber Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Visual Stories
Only Free
+ Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Covering the most interesting workplaces, career and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Covering the most interesting workplaces, career and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
2 Years
Archive access to the last two years of stories
2
Simultaneous browser sessions
+
1
Android/iOS App
Free + Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to our entire collection of premium podcasts covering the most interesting business, career, and startup trends in India
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to our entire collection of premium podcasts covering the most interesting business, career, and startup trends in India
Partner Account Access
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Gift a 1 Year Subscription for Free
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
App Access
iPad App Access
Priority Access
To new product offerings, features, community features, and events
Daily Long-form
Stories
Daily Long-form Stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Daily Long-form Stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Visual Stories
Visual stories
Understand business the way it’s meant to be seen, through charts, graphs, and infographics.
Visual stories
Understand business the way it’s meant to be seen, through charts, graphs, and infographics.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to the collection of premium podcasts that cover the most interesting workplaces, career, and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to the collection of premium podcasts that cover the most interesting workplaces, career, and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Unlimited
Access to all The Ken's Archives
2
Simultaneous browser sessions
+
2
Android/iOS App + iPad App
Free + Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to our entire collection of premium podcasts covering the most interesting business, career, and startup trends in India
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to our entire collection of premium podcasts covering the most interesting business, career, and startup trends in India
Partner Account Access
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Partner Account Access
Get two independent Premium accounts
Gift a 1 Year Subscription for Free
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
1+1 subscription
Gift a subscription to The Ken to anyone you like
App Access
iPad App Access
Priority Access
To new product offerings, features, community features, and events
Daily Long-form
Stories
Daily Long-form stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Daily Long-form stories
Daily long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly-listed tech and consumer companies.
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Subscriber + Premium Newsletters
Topical and sharp weekly industry newsletters covering e-commerce, retail, fintech, personal finance, edtech. Fresh and original weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Visual Stories
Visual Stories
Understand business the way it’s meant to be seen, through charts, graphs, and infographics.
Visual Stories
Understand business the way it’s meant to be seen, through charts, graphs, and infographics.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to the collection of premium podcasts that cover the most interesting workplaces, careers, and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Free + Premium Podcasts
Access to the collection of premium podcasts that cover the most interesting workplaces, careers, and business trends, along with candid conversations with founders and business leaders.
Unlimited
Access to all The Ken's Archives
2 + 2
Simultaneous browser sessions
+
2 + 2
Android/iOS App + iPad App
Not ready to subscribe? Sign up for a free account.
Get complete access to select stories, free newsletters and podcasts.
Sign up for free Learn more
OR
Trusted by 5,00,000+ executives and leaders from the world’s most successful organisations and students at top post-graduate campuses
Sharp, Original, Insightful, Analytical, Handcrafted
Unrivaled analysis and powerful stories about businesses in India and abroad from award-winning journalists. Includes access to long-form articles, premium newsletters, and our top-ranked podcasts.
Coverage across Sectors, Companies, and Geographies
Decode the most significant shifts in business, technology, startups, and healthcare. All told through a combination of original reporting, beautifully visualised data, and compelling narratives.
Made even better by a 5,00,000+ community
Our subscribers include leaders from the world’s most successful companies, students at top post-graduate campuses, and smart, curious people who want to understand how business is shaping the future.
FAQs
We have three subscription plans - Basic, Premium, and Premium Duo.
- The Basic plan only gives you access to daily long-form stories, subscriber newsletters, free podcasts, and archive access for the previous two years. You won’t get our premium newsletters, premium podcasts, visual stories, and the iPad app.
- The Premium plan gives you complete access to all of The Ken’s products and features.
- The Premium Duo plan gives you complete access to The Ken for two independent accounts.
We publish sharp, original, deeply reported long-form stories from India’s startup ecosystem, internet economy, and publicly listed tech and consumer companies. Our stories are forward-looking, analytical, and directional—supported by data, visualisations, and infographics. We use language and narrative that is accessible to even lay readers. And we optimise for quality over quantity, every single time.
Our specialised subscriber-only newsletters are written by our expert, award-winning journalists and cover a range of topics across finance, retail, clean energy, and edtech, alongside weekend newsletters like The Nutgraf and First Principles.
Yes, you can upgrade to a higher plan while your current subscription is still active. Our system will automatically give you a discount against the remainder of your current subscription.
You will get a discount equivalent to the time remaining in your current subscription.
Yes, we do have corporate subscriptions, corporate gift subscriptions, and campus plans for larger groups that wish to read The Ken together. Write to us at [email protected] and we'll help you with that.
Yes. You will have to upload a valid student ID card during checkout to avail the 50% discount. You can purchase a student subscription here.
We do not allow downloading and distribution of our stories. The Ken is a digital subscription-based product and only those with an active subscription will have access to the stories, either on our app or the website.
We allow three simultaneous logins per subscription for the Basic plan: two on the web and one on The Ken app on mobile.
We allow four simultaneous logins per subscription for the Premium and Premium Duo plans: two on the web, one on The Ken app on mobile, and one on the app on an Android tablet or iPad.
These are counted per platform and not pooled together. So signing in on a third browser will log out your earliest browser session, and the same applies to each app.
We do not offer any cancellations or refunds. If you are facing any issues with your subscription, you can write to us at [email protected].
No
Sorry, no. Our journalism is funded completely by our subscribers. We believe that quality journalism comes at a price, and readers trust and pay us so that we can remain independent.
Looking for Group Subscriptions?