Flutterwave, a Lagos and San Francisco-based financial payments startup, has announced it has raised $170m from leading investors, putting it at a valuation of over $1 billion. And with this valuation, the company becomes Africa’s latest unicorn, after Jumia, Interswitch, and Fawry.
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“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,” said founder Olugbenga Agboola.
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The Series C funding round was led by the New York-based investment firm, Avenir Growth Capital and US hedge fund and investment firm Tiger Global. Also participating are existing investors, including DST Global, Early Capital Berrywood, Green Visor Capital, Greycroft Capital, Insight Ventures, PayPal, Salesforce Ventures, Tiger Management, WorldpayFIS 9yards Capital.
The latest funding comes a year after the startup raised $35 million in a Series B round. It also closed $20 million Series A in 2018. This brings the startup’s total investment to $225 million.
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With the funding, Flutterwave will work more on its customer acquisition in markets where it is currently operating. It also has plans to improve its current product offerings such as Barter, which now has over 500,000 users. The investment will also help bring about new product offerings, including Flutterwave Mobile, which hopes to turn merchants’ mobile devices into a point of sale, allowing them to accept payments and make sales.
Avenir Growth Capital’s latest investment in Flutterwave is it’s first in an African startup. Tiger Global has previously invested in Nigeria’s iROKOtv as well as in South Africa’s Takealot.
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According to Jamie Reynolds of Avenir Growth Capital and Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global, investment in Flutterwave came as a way of assisting the startup on its quest to build a global and world-class payments company.
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What You Need To Know About Flutterwave
Launched in 2016, Flutterwave allows clients to tap its APIs and work with Flutterwave developers to customize payment applications. Existing customers include Uber, Booking.com, and e-commerce company Jumia.
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In 2019, Flutterwave processed 107 million transactions worth $5.4 billion, according to company data. The numbers have since increased to over 140 million transactions worth over $9 billion, according to Agboola.
Flutterwave’s platform has served the increased B2B business payment needs spurred by the decade of growth and reform that has occurred in Africa’s core economies.
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