Flutterwave, an African fintech, has secured $250 million in a Series D round, bringing its worth to almost $3 billion in just twelve months.
The San Francisco-based and Lagos-based startup raised $170 million in a Series C investment from Tiger Global and Avenir in March 2021, valuing the company at $1 billion.
Flutterwave has raised a total of $475 million since its launch six years ago (it raised a $35 million Series B in 2020 and a $20 million Series A in 2018), confirming a Bloomberg scoop from October.
While some global investors have expressed concern about startup valuations in the light of falling public tech stocks, others are boosting their risk appetite, as evidenced by Flutterwave’s purchase.
B Capital Group is the lead investor in this Series D round, with Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, and Lux Capital as participating investors. Avenir Growth, Tiger Global, Glynn Capital, Green Visor, and Salesforce Ventures are among the existing investors who have increased their stakes.
Flutterwave has surpassed the $2 billion valuation established by SoftBank-backed fintech OPay and FTX-backed cross-border payments platform Chipper Cash to become the most valuable African startup at $3 billion.
Flutterwave, led by creator and CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, uses a single API to simplify cross-border financial transactions between small and large firms in Africa.
The company also helps firms from outside Africa in expanding their operations on the continent. Booking.com, Flywire, and Uber are some of its international clients.
Since its unicorn round last year, Flutterwave has seen astronomical growth . At the time, the payments company said it processed 140 million transactions worth over $9 billion.
After a year, the African payments giant has grown to execute 200 million transactions worth more than $16 billion across 34 countries on the continent.
The number of businesses that use its platform has also grown. It was 290,000 in March 2021; now, 900,000 businesses utilize Flutterwave to process payments in 150 currencies and across many payment modalities, including local and international cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers, and Barter, the company’s consumer product.
While Flutterwave’s market dominance in enterprise payments has been the driving force behind this expansion, retail and consumers have also played a role.
Flutterwave, led by founder and CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, uses a single API to simplify cross-border financial transactions between small and large firms in Africa.
The Flutterwave Store, which first launched in April 2020, was renamed Flutterwave Market in November of last year.
The e-commerce platform has grown to over 30,000 merchants, allowing customers to browse for a wide range of products. Flutterwave introduced Send, a remittance service that allows users to send money to and from African recipients, in December.
Customers use Send to pay for things like family support, gifts, and tuition, according to Agboola, who calls it “Flutterwave’s fastest-growing product.”
In its first full month of operation, Send handled 4,729 transactions, generating a total payment volume of $3.59 million. The majority of its clients are from Nigeria, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
