Flutterwave says to eye US listing
Fintech company Flutterwave is well on course to becoming an African payment giant. The company just announced a Series C round of $170M at a valuation of over $1 billion, becoming the continent’s latest unicorn.
As per TechCrunch, the Lagos-based payment company’s latest round was led by New York-based private investment firm Avenir Growth Capital and U.S. hedge fund and investment firm Tiger Global.
Other new and existing investors who participated include DST Global, Early Capital Berrywood, Green Visor Capital, Greycroft Capital, Insight Ventures, PayPal, Salesforce Ventures, Tiger Management, Worldpay FIS 9yards Capital.
Also, read Stripe buys Paystack for over $200M in Nigeria’s biggest startup acquisition deal
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The Series C round comes a year after Flutterwave closed its $35 million Series B and $20 million Series A in 2018. In total, Flutterwave has raised $225 million and is one of the few African startups to have secured more than $200 million in funding, as per the Techcrunch report.
Why this matters
Flutterwave is clearly leading the pack among the new generation of fintech companies in Africa. The company has recorded a quantum leap in growth since its founding in 2016, processing 107 million transactions worth $5.4 billion.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further fuelled this growth with the volume of transactions increasing to over 140 million worth more than $9 billion at the end of 2020.
The latest investment is the largest single financing round by any startup within the ecosystem in recent times, signifying how bullish investors remain on fintech in Africa.
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Read also, Nigeria’s Ebi Atawodi joins Netflix as Director of Payments
It also shows that Africa remains a fertile ground for payment opportunities, as tech adoption fueled by increasing mobile penetration continues to grow, even as financial inclusion drive is at its all-time high.
Launched in 2016 as a Nigerian and U.S.-based payments company with offices in Lagos and San Francisco, Flutterwave helps businesses build customizable payments applications through its APIs.
Flutterwave says more than 290,000 businesses use its platform to carry out payments. And according to the company’s statement, they can do so “in 150 currencies and multiple payment modes including local and international cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers, Barter by Flutterwave.”