Payments company Flutterwave has raised $250m, giving it a $3bn valuation, making the company the highest valued African startup at the moment.
The latest funding round was led by B Capital Group, with participation from Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, Lux Capital, and others.
The series D funding will drive Flutterwave’s ambitious expansion plan to accelerate customer acquisition in existing markets and growth through M&A and develop complementary products while encouraging innovations in its products and services development.
Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, founder and CEO of Flutterwave said the company would use the funds to expand beyond Africa to other emerging markets including those in Latin America, and to economies linked to the continent such as the US, UK, United Arab Emirates and Canada.
The Lagos-based company, founded in 2016, is now the biggest payments start-up on the continent. It has processed 200mn transactions worth more than $16bn in 34 African countries. The company said it had processed over 200 million transactions worth over $16 billion to date across 34 countries in Africa, serving over 900,000 businesses across the globe.
The fundraising comes amid a wave of investment in start-ups targeting Africa’s unbanked population and the payments system that will undergird a mobile-first financial system.
Last year, Flutterwave raised $170 million from investors. Within six years, the company has become one of the continent’s highest-valued African startups.
This latest fundraising has seen Flutterwave’s valuation more than triple in one year.
