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Innovation is gradually putting the nation in positive light amidst the myriad of troubles it is pushing to surmount daily. Despite sub-Saharan Africa scoring a mark as one of the world’s fastest-growing digital payments markets, a large population of underbanked and unbanked people still exist in the region. Flutterwave, a fintech startup founded in 2016 by Nigerians has set out to bridge the financial divide by building the needed digital infrastructure that would provide a variety of payments services to African businesses through its API software offering. Hence, CNBC has named Flutterwave on the 2021 CNBC Disruptor 50 List. True enough, Flutterwave grew on the tethers it has set up abroad in San Francisco, California, United States although it provides the bulk of its financial services to African businesses. After taking part in the prestigious YCombinator accelerator, and conducting its business from its operational headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, Flutterwave records that it has processed over 140 million transactions amounting to $6 billion in value worldwide. Also, after funding totalling about $225 million, Flutterwave has expanded to unicorn status and is now valued at over $1 billion.
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Originally, led by one of its co-founders, Iyin Aboyeji, Flutterwave’s geometric growth was partly aided by the urgency of the pandemic and the current CEO, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, a graduate of the MBA program at MIT, and former software engineer at Paypal. Agboola was quick to notice how temporary lockdowns were impacting the businesses and Flutterwave quickly put the innovative gears into work. It then implemented an e-commerce platform to enable businesses to set up their shops online, with payments and delivery services integrated. This was the beginning of a major inculcation of social platforms, as well as the company’s experience in facilitating global transactions in local currencies in Africa into e-commerce. The fintech startup now operates in more than 15 countries with more than 290,000 businesses using its Flutterwave Store platform business operation. Prior to its foray into e-commerce, Flutterwave had partnered with Uber to launch Uber Cash. Uber Cash is a digital wallet for users in Sub-Saharan Africa that allows users to make and accept transfers through Flutterwave’s Barter virtual funds app. Flutterwave caught even more global attention in February when it closed $170 million in Series C financing with Tiger Global Management and Avenir Growth Capital. This development catapulted Flutterwave into unicorn status of more than $1 billion in value just after 5 years of operation. This recognition by CNBC as one of the top 50 innovation/disruptor companies in the world is a clear endorsement of how the founders, investors and employees have helped turn the company from a simple business into a world-changing enterprise. Featured Image Source: Flutterwave
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