Sunil Bharti Mittal is prowling for big kill on his African safari

Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal’s African safari has entered a new phase. On October 9, Airtel Money made its debut on the London Stock Exchange, with the sale of 270 million existing shares raising approximately 529 million pounds in what was described as the exchange’s biggest listing in five years. The offer valued the mobile financial services business at around $7 billion.

For Mittal, whose Airtel empire entered Africa through telecommunications, the bigger prize may lie in turning millions of mobile subscribers into customers for a much wider financial services business.

The listing is more than a milestone for Airtel Africa, Bharti's main telecom enterprise in Africa of which Airtel Money is a part. The listing of Airtel Money puts a spotlight on a business that has grown from a mobile wallet into one of the continent’s significant fintech platforms. If its ambitions play out, Airtel Money could become an important driver of growth for the Bharti group.


Also Read| Airtel Money debuts on LSE in biggest listing in 5 years

From mobile phones to mobile money

Airtel Money was launched in September 2011, a year after Bharti Airtel acquired the African operations of Kuwait’s Zain Group in 2010. The idea was to use Airtel’s existing telecom network and distribution reach to provide financial services to people who had limited access to conventional banking.

Initially, the service revolved around wallet transactions, cash deposits and withdrawals, peer-to-peer transfers, bill payments and airtime recharges. Customers could move money using their phones without needing a traditional bank account. Agents provided the physical interface for people who still relied heavily on cash.

Over time, the business expanded into merchant payments, international remittances, credit, savings and insurance. Its partnership with Mastercard grew to cover card issuance, payment processing, merchant acceptance and remittances. In 2025, Airtel Money launched a Global Pay Card with Mastercard, extending its reach into international online payments.

This shift was important because a wallet used only for occasional transfers has limited monetisation potential. A customer who also pays merchants, settles bills, receives money from abroad or takes a loan creates more opportunities for the platform to earn revenue.

The numbers behind the big bet

Airtel Money’s growth has been substantial. According to TechCabal, the business had 49.8 million customers in September 2025, up 20% year-on-year. Its annualised transaction value had crossed $193 billion, rising 35.9%. The momentum continued into the following financial year. Airtel Africa’s FY2026 annual report put Airtel Money’s customer base at 54.1 million as of March 2026. Revenue reached $1.355 billion, up 28.4% in constant currency, while underlying EBITDA rose 22.9% to $689 million. The EBITDA margin stood at 50.8%.

Airtel Money is no longer a peripheral service attached to a telecom subscription. It is a substantial business in its own right, generating more than half a billion dollars in annual underlying EBITDA before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

Its distribution network is another advantage. Airtel Africa reported more than 1.7 million active agents in March 2025, helping customers access cash and digital services across its markets. The agent network gives the company a reach that a purely app-based fintech would find expensive to replicate.

Africa’s financial services opportunity

The wider market offers considerable headroom. The GSMA’s State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 says mobile money platforms processed more than $2 trillion globally in 2025. Monthly active accounts rose 15% to 593 million. Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for most of the new registered and active accounts.

But usage has remained uneven. The GSMA put the global monthly activity rate at just 25.7% of registered accounts in 2025. That gap between account ownership and regular use is both a challenge and an opportunity. Providers have to persuade customers to make digital payments part of everyday life rather than use wallets merely to transfer money or withdraw cash.

For Airtel Money, the next leg of growth is less about inventing new services than getting more customers to use the ones already on offer. Airtel Africa’s telecom subscriber base provides a ready pool of potential users. Among existing customers, the opportunity lies in driving more frequent transactions and moving beyond basic transfers and cash withdrawals towards merchant payments, bill settlements and international remittances.

Small businesses could be an important part of that expansion. Airtel Money already facilitates merchant payments, but wider acceptance among retailers and service providers could make the wallet more useful in everyday commerce. Partnerships with banks and payment networks can help connect it to conventional financial accounts and broader payment systems, increasing its relevance to businesses as well as consumers.

The company has also moved into credit, savings and insurance through its own offerings and partnerships. These services give Airtel Money a chance to earn more from existing customer relationships rather than rely solely on transaction fees. The challenge is to scale them profitably while managing lending risks, fraud and regulatory requirements.

The real growth test is whether Airtel Money can turn a large payments platform into a more deeply used financial-services business.

The importance of London listing

The IPO gives investors a way to value Airtel Money separately from the telecom business. Financial technology platforms have different growth drivers from traditional mobile operators. Investors can now assess Airtel Money on its own revenue growth, margins and prospects for financial services expansion.

The offering was a sale of existing shares by minority shareholders, not a primary capital raise to finance Airtel Money’s expansion. The company’s final offer announcement said Airtel Africa would remain a long-term strategic shareholder. Before the listing, Airtel Africa owned 77.85% of Airtel Money.

The structure also reflects a longer process of bringing in outside investors. In 2021, TPG’s Rise Fund, Mastercard, Qatar Investment Authority and Chimetech invested a combined $550 million for minority stakes, when Airtel Money had an enterprise value of approximately $2.65 billion, according to the company’s history.

The latest valuation marks a substantial increase from that earlier benchmark. But the market’s verdict was not unreserved enthusiasm. Reuters reported that the shares closed at £1.93 on their first day, below the £1.96 offer price, despite strong demand for the IPO. The roughly a $7 billion valuation also fell short of the $8 billion to $9 billion range reportedly targeted before the offering, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The next hunt is for value per customer

Mittal’s larger opportunity is to build on a distribution network already established across African markets. Airtel Money can potentially sell more services to existing customers without having to acquire every customer from scratch. That is the strategic attraction -- more financial activity generated from relationships the group has spent years building.

However, the competition is formidable. Safaricom’s M-Pesa and MTN MoMo have strong positions in their respective markets. Currency depreciation, transaction taxes and regulatory changes can also eat into growth, while fraud and unreliable service can erode customer trust.

Airtel Money’s listing does not guarantee that it will become Africa’s dominant fintech platform. Nor does a $7 billion valuation, by itself, establish that the shares are cheap. But the direction of travel is clear. Mittal’s African business began with mobile connectivity. Airtel Money offers a route into payments and a broader range of financial services, with the possibility of making the group’s customer relationships more valuable over time.

The safari is no longer just about connecting Africa. The bigger prize is capturing a growing share of the money moving through its economy.