Flutterwave has announced today that it has raised USD$250 million in Series D funding, valuing the company at over USD$3 billion as the brand continues to transform the way Africans transact on the continent and globally. This latest fundraising has seen Flutterwave’s valuation more than triple since its last funding round in March 2021 when it became one of Africa’s fastest-growing Unicorns.
Flutterwave has now become the highest valued African startup with this investment. It is a validation of African talent, innovation, and its young inspiring people. It is also a huge endorsement in the growth of the business, innovation, and technology landscape in Africa.
Flutterwave’s latest backers include some of the world’s most respected investors led by B Capital Group, and with participation from Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, Lux Capital, among others. Several existing investors who also participated in previous rounds also followed this round, including, Glynn Capital, Avenir Growth, Tiger Global, Green Visor Capital, and Salesforce Ventures.
The new funds will drive Flutterwave’s ambitious expansion plan to accelerate customer acquisition in existing markets and growth through M&A and develop complementary products while encouraging new innovations in its products and services development. The company is expected to share more details during the Flutterwave 3.0 virtual event scheduled for February 18th, 2022.
Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, said in a press statement “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.”
Since its inception in 2016, the Flutterwave team has been on a mission to create endless possibilities for customers and businesses in Africa and the emerging markets. The Series D fundraise comes on the back of an impressive run of five years in which Flutterwave has processed over 200 million transactions worth over USD$16 billion to date across 34 countries in Africa. It also follows a year of rapid growth for the brand which now serves over 900,000 businesses across the globe.
Matt Levinson, Partner at B Capital said, “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.”
Matt said he had the pleasure of backing Flutterwave 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,” he said.
David Glynn, the Managing Partner of Glynn Capital, said, “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 the adoption of seamless digital payments experiences for merchants and consumers alike.” He concludes, “We look forward to supporting the company as it addresses its significant growth opportunity in the years ahead.”
In 2021, Flutterwave launched a range of new products including Flutterwave Market for merchants to sell their goods via an online marketplace and, most recently, Send, a remittance service that empowers customers to seamlessly send money to recipients to and from Africa. Flutterwave has also partnered with leading global and pan-African technology and telecommunication companies such as PayPal, MTN, Airtel to drive financial inclusion on the continent and create endless possibilities for customers who can build customizable payment applications through its APIs
