Airtel Africa is finally putting numbers where its ambitions have always been. The telecom giant has confirmed that its mobile money business, Airtel Money, is being prepped for an initial public offering (IPO) in the first half of 2026, a move that could catapult the fast-growing payments arm into the big leagues of global fintech.
Insiders say Airtel has tapped Wall Street powerhouse Citigroup Inc. to steer the listing. Dubai investors have already been courted this week, Bloomberg reports, and depending on how the cards fall, the listing could value Airtel Money at more than $4 billion.
Not bad for a business that, just four years ago, saw TPG throw in $200 million at a $2.65 billion valuation, Mastercard chip in $100 million, and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund quietly join the party.
Airtel Money’s fast climb
The numbers are staggering. As of June, Airtel Money boasted 45.8 million customers, moving an annualized $162 billion through its systems. To put that in perspective, that’s more than Kenya’s entire GDP in 2025 being zapped through mobile phones.
This is more than just a payments app. Airtel has steadily been broadening its fintech horizons:
- Just a few weeks ago, it partnered with PawaPay to deepen cross-border payments across Africa.
- Earlier this year, it launched the Rudishiwa Campaign to drive financial inclusion in underserved communities.
- And yes, you can now pay for apps on the Google Play Store directly via Airtel Money, saving millions of Android users across Africa from the card-payment headache.
These aren’t just cute side projects. They’re calculated moves to build the kind of ecosystem investors drool over.
The bigger empire at play
Behind it all is billionaire Sunil Mittal, Airtel Africa’s chairman and one of India’s most influential businessmen. Through Bharti Enterprises, his family controls Airtel Africa, Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel, satellite operator OneWeb, and even a chunky 24.5% stake in Britain’s BT Group. Bloomberg pegs his net worth at more than $27 billion.
So when Mittal sets his sights on turning Airtel Money into a publicly traded fintech juggernaut, you know this isn’t a passing experiment.
For Airtel Africa, already listed in London and Lagos and operating across 14 African countries, spinning out Airtel Money is about unlocking value. The payments business has grown into a crown jewel, often outshining voice and data growth in quarterly reports. Remember their latest Q1 2026 results? Mobile money was one of the brightest spots, contributing significantly to revenue momentum.
More broadly, this IPO is a litmus test for Africa’s fintech story. Investors have long been circling the continent’s young, mobile-first population, but scaling up fintech across borders has been tricky. Safaricom’s M-PESA dominates in Kenya, but Airtel Money has been carving out strongholds in markets like Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia.
If Airtel Money pulls off a blockbuster listing, it could reset how the world looks at Africa’s digital finance sector. Not as a “developing” add-on, but as a main stage player.
Of course, IPOs aren’t won overnight. No final decisions have been made on whether Airtel Money will list in London, Dubai, or another European venue. And markets are notoriously fickle. By 2026, investor appetite for fintech could be very different from today.
Still, Airtel Africa has nailed its colours to the mast: first half of 2026 is the target, and Citi is the banker of choice. That gives Airtel Money less than a year to polish its balance sheets, grow its customer base, and perhaps roll out a few more flashy partnerships.
If all goes to plan, we’ll be watching Africa’s next fintech giant step into the global spotlight, and it just happens to be the same app we use to buy airtime and pay boda guys.
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