Safaricom’s M-PESA has reached 40 million monthly active customers in Kenya, the company said on 6 March 2026, as the mobile money platform marks 19 years since its launch in 2007.
- •M-PESA began as a simple person to person money transfer service designed for basic remittances. The platform now operates as a broad digital financial ecosystem used daily by households, traders, banks and institutions.
- •Services include merchant payments, credit, savings and investment tools delivered through products such as Fuliza overdraft, KCB M-PESA loans, Ziidi Money Market Fund, Ziidi Trader, Lipa na M-PESA, Pochi la Biashara and Global Pay.
- •M-PESA now stands as Safaricom’s largest revenue engine, contributing more than 40% of Safaricom's service revenue.
Safaricom Chief Executive Peter Ndegwa said the milestone reflects the company’s effort to expand digital financial access across Kenya while strengthening tools for saving, payments and investment.
Customer Growth and Market Scale
Customer growth over the past decade shows rapid expansion followed by gradual market maturity. Monthly active users rose from 9.8 million in 2012 to 40 million in 2026. The platform added more than 30 million users during the fourteen year period.
Expansion accelerated during the mid 2010s as Safaricom built a dense nationwide agent network and rolled out merchant payments through Lipa na M-PESA. Customer numbers rose from 12.16 million in 2014 to 20.55 million in 2018 as small businesses and retail merchants adopted mobile payments.
Adoption increased further during the pandemic period as digital transactions replaced cash across several sectors of the economy. Users rose from 22.64 million in 2019 to 28.31 million in 2021. Growth continued in later years with customers reaching 30.53 million in 2022 and 32.11 million in 2023 before climbing to about 35.8 million in FY2025 and 40 million in 2026.
Revenue and Economic Impact
Total Safaricom revenue reached KSh388.7 billion in FY2025 compared with KSh 310.9 billion in FY2023 and KSh 249.1 billion in FY2019. Mobile money revenue reached KSh 161.3 billion in FY2025, rising from KSh 140.1 billion in FY2024 and KSh 117.2 billion in FY2023.
M-PESA processed more than 21.9 billion transactions valued at about KSh 20.2 trillion during the six months to September 2025.
The payment network now links households, merchants and institutions across Kenya through a mobile financial infrastructure used for daily commerce, lending and savings.
