Flutterwave Raises $250 Million in Series D Funding Round

Flutterwave, Africa’s leading fintech unicorn, has raised another $250 million in a Series D funding round that put the company’s valuation around $3 billion.

The company disclosed this in a statement released on Wednesday.

In 2018, Flutterwave raised $20 million to kickstart what is now the face of African startups and one of the fastest-growing fintech unicorns in the world. The company raised another $35 million Series B in 2020 and $170 million in 2021 from Tiger Global and Avenir at a valuation of $1 billion.  Together, Flutterwave has raised $475 million since its inception six years ago.

Flutterwave has now surpassed $2 billion SoftBank-backed OPay and FTX-backed Chipper Cash as Africa’s most valuable startup.

Speaking on the new fund raising and vision of the company, Olugbenga GB Agboola, CEO and Founder, Flutterwave said “Since inception, our goals at Flutterwave have always been clear. We want to make it easy for a business in Lagos to sell to a customer in Kenya, seamlessly, to make it simple to accept payments globally. 

“Six years later, with an abundance of building, marketing, partnerships and an unfaltering belief in ourselves, we have made huge strides in simplifying payments for endless possibilities in Africa. 

“What is true today is that from your mPESA wallet  in Nairobi, you can pay a business in Lagos, to deliver flowers to a loved one and they will receive it in their USD Bank Account—all on Flutterwave. 

“You could simply want to send a loved one the monetary equivalent of the flowers and  Send would work perfectly well for that. It’s been a challenging journey to where we are, but fulfilling all the same.”

Explaining the company’s growth, the CEO said Flutterwave is a payment of choice for 900,000 businesses across the continent and outdid itself in 2021 by doubling 2016 to 2020 transactions value to over $16 billion.

“It’s been a fulfilling journey to where we are today—in the span of one year, we have almost doubled our 2016 to 2020 transaction value to over $16bn. We tripled our customer numbers; all due to the support we have received and continue to receive in Africa and across the world.”

On how far African tech space has grown in the last few years, he said the region tech space grew faster than any other region in 2021 with 2x the activity of 2020 and more than 3x the amount invested. He added that internet economy has the potential to expand Africa’s economy by $180 billion by 2025.