Tilgent Pay

What Tilgent Pay does

Tilgent Pay is a private fintech company founded in 2013 and headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, that operates a white-label mobile wallet and payment gateway platform primarily targeting underbanked and emerging-market consumers. The company's core product is a PCI/DSS-compliant mobile wallet ecosystem that supports cross-border, cross-currency transactions, with full integration into partner banks in each country of operation. The platform is distributed through a B2B2C model in which Tilgent Pay provides partner financial institutions with the technology stack — mobile apps (iOS and Android), web access, SMS/USSD channels for feature phones, POS network devices, and ATM integration — and these banks offer the resulting wallet services to their end customers. Headquartered operationally across six named African countries (Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia) plus the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and North America, Tilgent Pay positions itself as enabling deposits, withdrawals, P2P payments, merchant payments, bill payments, payroll deposits, airtime top-up, government services payments, remittances, and micro-loan repayment.

The company's product portfolio spans the TilgentPay Mobile Wallet, a Smart Payment Gateway Solution, ecommerce payments, onsite POS payments, online payments, automatic transfers, ATM integration, and a mobile-wallet-integrated long-term mortgage funding platform developed under a 2021 tripartite MOU with the Ministry of Housing and Habitat Bank in Côte d'Ivoire. Tilgent Pay monetizes through transaction-based fees on payments processed through its gateway — pricing is not publicly disclosed and is negotiated with partner banks. The company claims 183,000+ global users and operates with a 11–50 employee headcount. Leadership is concentrated in Founder and CEO Curt Barnes and VP (Africa) Ian Fenwick, with no disclosed institutional investors, parent company, or external funding rounds in the available data, and no AI/ML product capabilities described.

The technology architecture is built around regulatory compliance as a primary moat: full PCI/DSS certification enables bank partnerships across regulated jurisdictions, while multi-channel access (native mobile apps, responsive web, and SMS/USSD for non-smartphone users) extends reach in markets where smartphone penetration is uneven. Distribution flows through five channels: direct mobile app downloads, self-serve web account management, SMS/USSD for low-end devices, white-label deployment to partner banks (the primary enterprise channel), and embedded POS terminals at connected merchants. The combined bank-POS-ATM footprint is designed to deliver a full payments loop rather than a standalone consumer wallet, which is the intended differentiation in markets where M-Pesa-style competitors have already established wallet primacy.

Name

Tilgent Pay

Legal name

Tilgent Pay

Website

https://tilgentpay.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tilgent Pay is a private fintech that provides a white-label, PCI/DSS-compliant mobile wallet and payment gateway platform to banks and financial institutions, enabling cross-border, cross-currency payments and a full suite of consumer financial services across Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mobile Payments and Digital Wallet Platform

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSAMAEAA

General-Purpose Digital Wallets (P2P + Merchant)

Financial & Insurance/Payments & Transaction Processing/Digital Wallets & Mobile Payments

SECONDARYFSAMACAA

Merchant Payment Gateways (API/Hosted Checkout)

Financial & Insurance/Payments & Transaction Processing/Payment Gateways & Orchestration

SECONDARYFSAMAIAJ

Cross-Border Payouts & Mass Disbursements (Pay-outs)

Financial & Insurance/Payments & Transaction Processing/Cross-Border Payments & Remittances

SECONDARYFSAPACAC

Custodial Wallets & Hosted Accounts (exchange/fintech custody, omnibus wallets)

Financial & Insurance/Blockchain & Web3/Wallets, Identity & Access (custody/non-custody, DID, key management)

SECONDARYFSAGABAO

POS, SoftPOS & In-Person Acceptance Infrastructure

Financial & Insurance/Financial Technology (Fintech)/Payment Orchestration & Fintech Infrastructure (APIs, Issuing, Processing)

Keywords

• Mobile wallet services
• Cross-border payments
• Payment gateway solutions
• Digital financial services
• Fintech infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Clearwater

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Payment Gateway Services: Tilgent Pay generates revenue through payment gateway fees charged on transactions processed through its mobile wallet platform. The company works with financial institution partners to facilitate various payment services including deposits, withdrawals, P2P payments, merchant payments, bill payments, and remittances.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tilgent Pay operates a mobile wallet ecosystem that enables seamless cross-currency, cross-border transactions through partnerships with banks and financial institutions. The platform provides PCI/DSS compliant payment processing accessible via mobile apps (Android/iOS), web, and SMS/USSD, supporting deposits, withdrawals, P2P payments, merchant payments, bill payments, payroll, airtime top-up, government payments, remittances, and loan repayments.

Product overview

Tilgent Pay is a unified mobile wallet ecosystem consisting of the TilgentPay Mobile Wallet as the core platform, supported by a Smart Payment Gateway Solution with full integration to partner financial institutions. The product portfolio includes ecommerce payments, onsite Point-of-Sale payments, online payments via web and mobile app, automatic transfers, person-to-person payments, bill payments, payroll payments, remittance services, airtime top-up, government services payments, ATM integration, and loan/micro-loan payment processing. The platform operates across Africa (Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia), the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and North America.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• TilgentPay Mobile Wallet

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and flagship.

• Pinnacle UKminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 August 2024Community partnership for charitable donations. Pinnacle UK donates football kits and equipment for underprivileged children in Liberia. Ian Fenwick, Tilgent Pay VP, coordinates delivery of donations during business trips.
• Brighton & Hove Albion FoundationminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 August 2024Charitable partnership for community support in Liberia. The foundation donates football kits through Tilgent Pay VP Ian Fenwick for underprivileged children.
• Worthing FCminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 August 2024Football club partnership supporting community initiatives. Worthing FC donates football kit and equipment for children in Liberia through Tilgent Pay.
• UNICEF (Liberia)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2024Discussion of Tilgent payment platform for UNICEF operations in Liberia. Ian Fenwick met with UNICEF Country Director Andrew Brooks to discuss the platform and collaboration for donating football kits.
• FC Kante (Côte d'Ivoire)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 May 2024Tilgent Pay VP Ian Fenwick serves as Honorary President of FC Kante. Tilgent Pay supplies football kits to the club, building local brand presence and community connections in Côte d'Ivoire.
• Ministry of Housing (Côte d'Ivoire)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2021Tripartite MOU signed in June 2021 between Tilgent, the Ministry of Housing, and Habitat Bank for the Tilgent Pay mobile wallet and long-term mortgage funding platform. The partnership aims to help those without access to loans buy their own homes.
• Habitat Bank (Côte d'Ivoire)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2021Tripartite MOU signed in June 2021 for the Tilgent Pay mobile wallet and long-term mortgage funding platform. Habitat Bank provides banking infrastructure for the partnership with the Ministry of Housing.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Orange Money: Orange's pan-African mobile money service — directly comparable product (wallet, cross-border transfers, merchant payments) overlapping in Côte d'Ivoire and other francophone West African markets where Tilgent is present.
• MTN MoMo (MTN Group): MTN Group's mobile money wallet operating in many of the same West African countries as Tilgent (Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire region). Comparable on cross-border P2P, merchant payments, bill pay and biller integration.
• Airtel Money: Airtel Africa's mobile money wallet — comparable in scale of services (P2P, merchant, cross-border) and overlapping target geographies including Nigeria and Ghana.
• M-Pesa: Safaricom/Vodafone-owned mobile money platform — the dominant African mobile wallet. Comparable as a B2C and B2B2C mobile wallet operating across African corridors including remittances, bill pay and merchant acceptance; vastly larger scale than Tilgent Pay.

Emerging players

• Chipper Cash: Cross-border African remittance and payments app with fintech rails. Directly comparable on cross-border, cross-currency value proposition aimed at African diaspora corridors served by Tilgent.
• Cellulant: Pan-African digital payments platform providing payment gateways and banking integrations. Comparable as a B2B2C payments orchestrator with bank and merchant integration across multiple African countries.
• Wave (mobile money): Mobile money operator in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and other West African markets. Comparable mobile wallet + merchant offering with focus on low-fee transfers — a direct regional competitor to Tilgent in Côte d'Ivoire.
• OPay: Nigeria-focused mobile money and merchant payments super-app. Comparable on consumer wallet, POS acceptance and bill pay, with substantial capital backing — competes head-on with Tilgent Pay in Nigeria.

Regional players

• Paystack: Stripe-owned Nigerian payments gateway serving online merchants — overlaps with Tilgent's ecommerce-payments and bank-integration product layer in the Nigeria market specifically.
• Flutterwave: Africa-focused payments gateway and remittance platform — comparable technology stack (payment gateway, merchant acquisition, cross-border), competitor in Nigeria and other West African markets Tilgent serves.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tilgent Pay