How Flutterwave’s $170m deal will impact the future of small businesses

It is such a good time to be alive especially if you are in the FinTech industry in Nigeria because the mouth-watering investments from International firms into start-ups in Nigeria keep rolling in.

Just a couple of months ago, the internet went “wild” when a US-based company, Stripe purchased Nigeria’s payment company, Paystack for $200m.

While some are yet to recover from that, Flutterwave, another payment company, Flutterwave has secured an investment worth $170m from a group of leading international investors as part of a successful C series round.

With this latest staggering investment, Flutterwace’s worth is now valued at $1b with over $225m worth of investment in the company as of today.

Founded by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Olugbenga Agboola, Flutterwave is a Payments Technology Company that enables businesses across the world expand their operations in Africa and other emerging markets, through a platform that enables cross-border transactions via one API.

Flutter wave was founded five years ago and it has processed over 140 million transactions worth about $9b. It serves over 290,000 businesses including Facebook, Uber and among many top brands in the world.

While reacting to the latest investment, Olugbenga said;

“When Flutterwave was founded in 2016, the payments landscape in Africa was highly fragmented so the goal was to build a pan-African platform that simplified payments for everyone.”

“However, our successes would not be possible without (1) Our amazing team of 300+ employees that work tirelessly to achieve our goals (2) The trust and support we have received from our investors and customers and (3) Regulatory bodies like the Central Bank of Nigeria which – under the leadership of the current Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele – has remained at the forefront of the significant efforts that are currently being made by African governments to create the enabling environment for technology, innovation and financial inclusion. This humbling support has created the backbone upon which companies like Flutterwave have been able to thrive.” 

“As we look to the future, our focus remains the same which is to stand by our 290,000 merchants across Africa every day as they strive to build their mom-and-pop stores into global businesses.”

“We look forward to increasing our investments across the continent and deepening the impact our platform has on lives and livelihoods as we take more businesses in Africa to the World, and at the same time continue to bring more of the World to Africa.”

What does this mean for smaller Fintech Businesses?

Flutterwave’s investment is a morale booster for other players in the industry to strive for bigger opportunities that expand their firm and improve operations.

Emerging firms in the industry stand a chance of being bought over by Flutterwave as it is open to the idea of acquiring players in the African Fintech space.

Flutterwave also plans to accelerate customer acquisition in existing and international markets, as well as develop complementary and innovative products such as the Flutterwave Mobile.