tipWave

01 / THE SETUP

Guests pay by card, but the habit of tipping still assumes cash.

1. Situation

   Guests in Mauritian cafés, restaurants and hotels want to thank the staff who served them.

2. Complication

   More and more of them pay digitally and carry no cash, so the thank-you never happens.

3. Question

   How does a cashless guest tip a specific person in seconds?

4. Answer

   A QR code at the table opens a tipping page; the guest pays by card and the tip is paid out to the venue for its staff.

02 / THE PROBLEM

Cash is gone, card terminals don't help, and staff lose out.

1. 01

   Guests no longer carry cash.

   Instant digital payments in Mauritius nearly doubled in a year, to 19.4 million transactions (Bank of Mauritius, FY2024-25).

2. 02

   The bill is the wrong moment.

   A tip line on the venue's terminal is addressed to the business, not to the person who served the guest.

3. 03

   Staff income depends on it.

   28,834 people work in larger hotels, restaurants and tourism businesses in Mauritius (Statistics Mauritius, March 2025).

03 / HOW IT WORKS

Scan, pay, done — no app and no account for the guest.

1. 01

   Scan

   The guest scans the tipWave QR code at the table or on the counter.

2. 02

   Pay

   The guest chooses an amount and pays by card through a licensed acquirer.

3. 03

   Pay out

   Tips are paid out to the venue's bank account, with a report of every transaction.

05 / WHERE IT STANDS

tipWave is live and takes real card payments at its first venue.

• The first café has accepted tips through tipWave since May 2026.
• Card payments settle through Peach Payments; Apple Pay and Google Pay are being connected.
• A field agent in Mauritius is onboarding restaurants.

06 / THE MODEL

Revenue is a fee on top of the tip, so the staff member keeps all of it.

• The guest pays a platform fee on top of the tip amount, set out in the terms of service.
• Venues pay no subscription and need no hardware beyond a printed QR code.
• The fee also covers card acquiring costs, so the tip reaches the venue in full.

07 / TECHNOLOGY AND TRUST

Money moves only through a licensed acquirer.

• Peach Payments Card acquiring

09 / WHAT COULD GO WRONG

The risks sit with regulation and payment partners, and each is already being handled.

• Holding guests' money would require a payment licence.

  tipWave acts as a technology agent: it keeps no wallets or balances, and funds settle through the acquirer to the venue.

• Tax treatment of tips and fees is unclear.

  VAT is charged on the platform fee only, and a private ruling has been requested from the Mauritius Revenue Authority.

• Depending on a single acquirer slows launches and payouts.

  A second local payment provider is being evaluated alongside Peach Payments.