Africa-focused payments company Flutterwave today announced that it has closed USD$170 million (approx. UGX623,173,590,000) in Series C round, from a leading group of international investors” to expand its customer base in existing and international markets and to develop new products.
With the raised funding, the company is now valued at USD$1 billion —and the company’s Chief Executive and co-founder; Olugbenga Agboola, said they are considering for a New York listing.
“The company’s valuation is now in excess of USD$1 billion. The fundraise brings the total investment in Flutterwave to USD$225 million,” company said in a press statement, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic had accelerated the shift to digital payments in Africa.
The fundraising round was led by New York-based private investment firm, Avenir Growth Capital and Tiger Global Management LLC. Other backers that participated in the funding include DST Global, Early Capital Berrywood, Green Visor Capital, Greycroft Capital, Insight Ventures, PayPal, Salesforce Ventures, Tiger Management, Worldpay FIS 9yards Capital.
“Flutterwave is at the forefront of innovation in payments technology. We are excited to support the team as they build the last available payments infrastructure frontier in the world – connecting merchants and consumers intra-Africa and globally,” Jamie Reynolds, a partner at Avenir Growth Capital, said.
The completion of the fundraising round, a little more than a year after Flutterwave announced a partnership with Visa and Worldpay, highlights the growing interest in the burgeoning payments market in Africa.
Flutterwave has raised USD$225 million and is one of the few African startups to have secured more than USD$200 million in funding.
Flutterwave wants to become a global payments company. According to its statement, it says more than 290,000 businesses use its platform to carry out payments —and they can do so “in 150 currencies and multiple payment modes including local and international cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers, Barter by Flutterwave.”
While its website shows an active presence in 11 African countries, Agboola says the company is live in 20 African countries with an infrastructure reach in over 33 countries on the continent.
