Flutterwave hits $3.2 billion valuation with Ripple as investor and partner

Flutterwave has landed Ripple as both investor and partner, lifting the African payments infrastructure company to a $3.2 billion valuation and sharpening the race to move money across borders without the delays and fees of correspondent banking. The deal matters well beyond startup finance: it puts one of Africa’s most prominent payment rails at the center of a global push to use stablecoins for trade settlement and remittances.

Flutterwave said Ripple’s investment is part of its Series E round. The company did not disclose the size of Ripple’s stake, and some market reports placed the valuation closer to $3.25 billion. Either way, the new mark extends a fundraising arc that began with Flutterwave’s founding in 2016 and includes a $170 million Series C round in 2021, which made it a unicorn, followed by a $250 million Series D round in 2022 at a valuation above $3 billion.

The company has grown into one of the biggest names in African payments, saying it operates in more than 34 African countries and has processed more than 1 billion transactions worth over $50 billion. Its customer list includes companies such as Uber and Air Peace, underscoring how the business sits inside both consumer payments and commercial transport flows. Flutterwave is headquartered in San Francisco and was founded by Olugbenga Agboola, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Adeleke Adekoya.

The new partnership is framed as a stablecoin push. Flutterwave and Ripple said they want to accelerate African stablecoin payments by combining Flutterwave’s cross-border settlement network with Ripple’s blockchain and digital liquidity tools, including Ripple’s USD-denominated stablecoin RLUSD and the XRP Ledger. The companies said the goal is to speed up settlement, lower costs and reduce the legacy frictions of foreign-exchange chains, especially for cross-border trade and remittances.

That is where the strategic significance reaches beyond the company’s own balance sheet. Africa’s payment landscape still relies heavily on banks and intermediaries outside the continent for many international transactions, leaving businesses and senders exposed to delays, currency conversion costs and fragmented settlement paths. A regulated payments company pairing with a blockchain group suggests crypto is trying to re-enter mainstream finance through infrastructure that looks less like speculation and more like plumbing.

Agboola has said Flutterwave is building payment infrastructure that connects African commerce to the global economy, and Ripple’s Reece Merrick, managing director for the Middle East and Africa, has said stablecoins are becoming central to that story. The timing also fits Flutterwave’s broader shift: in late 2025, Agboola said the company was leaning into stablecoins and aiming for profitability in 2026, while noting that parts of the business were already profitable. Flutterwave has also pursued stablecoin-related partnerships with Polygon and Tempo, signaling a multi-partner strategy around faster cross-border settlement across Africa.