<\/p>\n
Flutterwave Inc, one of Africa\u2019s most valuable financial-technology startups, sold an equity stake to Ripple, as it seeks to accelerate growth through payments expansion and strategic partnerships.<\/p>\n
The investment by the blockchain company takes\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Flutterwave\u2019s valuation to $3.3 billion, CEO Olugbenga Agboola said in an interview. He declined to disclose the amount invested or the size of Ripple\u2019s shareholding in the company.<\/p>\n Read: Amex sets sights on Africa in move to tempt users away from cash<\/p>\n The startup was valued at more than $3 billion in a 2022 funding round.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are getting capital as they have invested cash in us\u201d and deep access to payment infrastructure across the continent, Agboola said.<\/p>\n Ripple\u2019s interest in Flutterwave stems from a shared goal of \u201cmoving money quicker and better,\u201d he said. Unlike others who are \u201cparticipating at commercial level, they\u2019re participating at the equity level, which means obviously they get to participate on the upside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The deal reflects the strategic fit between the two companies as demand grows for faster and cheaper cross-border payments across Africa.<\/p>\n Ripple, which provides crypto solutions to businesses in more than 90 countries, has been expanding its presence on the continent through\u00a0partnerships with South Africa\u2019s Absa Bank and payments provider Chipper Cash.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Flutterwave, which operates in 35 African nations, has been building its own digital-assets business. Last year, it introduced\u00a0stablecoin-based payment services that allow businesses and consumers to transact in the digital tokens.<\/p>\n The partnership gives Ripple access to one of Africa\u2019s largest fintech networks while providing Flutterwave with additional infrastructure and expertise to expand both traditional and blockchain-based payment services.<\/p>\n Endorsement\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The investment is a very big endorsement of Flutterwave\u2019s ambition, Agboola said.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s priorities include expanding its enterprise payments business among high-value merchants in Nigeria and other core markets, growing cross-border commerce and scaling its microfinance banking operations, he said.<\/p>\n Read: Absa sees more Fintechs in African IPO pipeline<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the startup founded in 2016,\u00a0obtained a Nigerian microfinance banking license, allowing it to take deposits and make loans directly rather than relying on partner banks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe plan to do a lot more around that,\u201d Agboola said. \u201cWe want to do a lot of mergers and acquisition,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is very key for us as we see an opportunity to consolidate payment in Africa, that is what we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a9\u00a02026\u00a0Bloomberg<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n #Ripple #buys #stake #Flutterwave #valuing #startup #3.3bn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Flutterwave Inc, one of Africa\u2019s most valuable financial-technology startups, sold an equity stake to Ripple, as it seeks to accelerate growth through payments expansion and strategic partnerships. The investment by… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9925,1439,9923,9922,1032,570,9924],"class_list":["post-7658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-3-3bn","tag-buys","tag-flutterwave","tag-ripple","tag-stake","tag-startup","tag-valuing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n