Successful $250m series D funding pushes Flutterwave’s value to $3bn

Olugbenga GB Agboola, CEO, Flutterwave

Flutterwave, the technology company established in 2016, has seen its market valuation rise to $3 billion following the successful close of a $250 million Series D investment fund round comprising a star studded line up of leading investors.

The latest round of funding has seen a tripling of Flutterwave’s valuation since the round in March 2021 when it became one of Africa’s fastest-growing unicorns.

Flutterwave’s team has been on a mission to create endless possibilities for customers and businesses in Africa and the emerging markets, and on its journey as a unicorn (a billion dollar startup), it has now become the highest valued African startup at over $3 billion as it continues to transform the way Africans transact on the continent and worldwide.

This fresh funding comes on the back of an impressive run of five years in which Flutterwave has processed over 200 million transactions worth over $16 billion 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.

The company said Wednesday that the $250 million will help drive its ambitious expansion plans which will in turn 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.

Per the funding, the company has continued to see a rise in level of interest from different backers to the vision that is driven with innovation and technology for African businesses. The latest backers include some of the world’s most respected investors led by B Capital Group, with participation from Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, Lux Capital, among others. Several existing investors who participated in previous rounds also followed this round, including, Glynn Capital, Avenir Growth, Tiger Global, Green Visor Capital and Salesforce Ventures.

Olugbenga Agboola, founder and chief executive officer, said: “Our story is that of resilience and hard work. Our growth so far is due to the support of our customers, our partners, the banks, the public, the regulators, and importantly, our people. The Central Bank of Nigeria, under the leadership of 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.

“We 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 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,” he said.

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.”

Also, David Glynn, managing partner, 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 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.”