Africa’s leading fintech, Flutterwave has raised the sum of $250 million in a series D funding round which has now trippled the company’s valuation to over $3 billion.
The announcement of funding which was made available via a press release revealed that the round was led by B Capital Group and also saw participation from Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, Lux Capital among others while existing investors involved include Glynn Capital, Avenir Growth, Tiger Global, Green Visor Capital and Salesforce Ventures.
This comes after Flutterwave’s last deal in March which had earlier pushed it’s valuation to a $1 billion having its Series C funding led by Tiger Global and Avenir Growth Capital.
The new funding raised places the company as the highest valued African startup above the $2 billion valuation set by SoftBank-backed fintech OPay and FTX-backed cross-border payments platform Chipper Cash in 2021, making it the fastest African growing unicorn.
With the funds raised, the company intends to intensify its drive in transforming the ways Africans transactions are done within and outside the continent. It also intends to grow its business, innovationd and technological mapping in Africa.
Furthermore, the funds raised will help the company achieve its goal of accelerating customer acquisition in existing markets and growth through M&A as well as developing complementary products to the already existing ones such as Send and the Flutterwave Store.
Flutterwave which was founded in 2016 by Olugbenga “GB” Agboola has aided in cross-border payments transactions of small to large businesses in Africa through one API. The company also assists businesses outside Africa expand their operations on the continent. Some of its international clients include Booking.com, Flywire and Uber.
The company’s reach has over 34 African countries which includes Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa giving it the advantage in processing international payments in 150 currencies and multiple payment modes that involves local and international cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers and Barter.
Speaking on the funds raised, Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola said that the achieved milestone is as a result of hardwork, resilience and support of customers, the banks, the public, the regulators, and importantly, people.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria, under the leadership of Dr. Godwin Emefiele, laid the vision of a transformational Payment System in Nigeria, provided the framework for innovation in this space, and has continued to create regulations that have enabled us to grow and thrive. We are grateful to them and to all the other Central Banks in all the countries where we operate”, Agboola said.
He further added, “We are set out to build a platform that simplifies payments for everyone and today, our solutions are used across the globe to connect Africans to the world and the world to Africans. We are delighted that investors believe in us and our story and are committing their resources to this belief. This latest funding demonstrates the conviction of some of the world’s leading investors in both our business model, team and the Africa technology market. It gives Flutterwave the much-needed support to deliver on our plans to provide the best experience for our merchants and customers around the world.”
Matt Levinson, Partner at B Capital said, “At B Capital, we seek to back generational companies with broad platform potential. Flutterwave has a unique opportunity to accomplish this as the dominant payments infrastructure provider across Africa. In addition to their emergence as the leading enterprise payments processor for the continent, Flutterwave is innovating at breakneck speed with novel fintech solutions for large corporates, SMEs and consumers. I’ve had the pleasure of backing this world-class team since 2017 and couldn’t be more thrilled that B Capital is leading their Series D. Flutterwave may ultimately build one of the most consequential fintech business in the world, enabling hundreds of thousands of merchants to transact online and connect Africa to the global economy.”
David Glynn, Managing Partner of Glynn Capital also added, “We believe the digitization of payments globally is one of the largest and most important trends in technology. Having been investors in Flutterwave since 2017, we have had a front row seat in seeing Flutterwave establish itself as a leading payments company in Africa as it drives adoption of seamless digital payments experiences for merchants and consumers alike. We look forward to supporting the company as it addresses its significant growth opportunity in the years ahead.”
