Ripple Flutters Into Africa With $3.3B Flutterwave Bag 🌍

Ripple has acquired an equity stake in Flutterwave, valuing the African fintech at $3.3 billion, the companies confirmed in a Bloomberg interview. Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola said the round brings both fresh capital and a strategic partner as the Lagos-based firm scales payments across the continent, though he declined to disclose the dollar amount invested or the size of Ripple's resulting shareholding. "They're participating at the equity level, which means obviously they get to participate on the upside," Agboola told Bloomberg, adding that the transaction is an equity purchase rather than a commercial agreement.

The investment lands as African demand grows for faster, cheaper cross-border payments, a market both firms are racing to serve. Ripple, which sells crypto-based payment infrastructure to businesses in more than 90 countries, has been steadily building its African footprint through partnerships with South Africa's Absa Bank and payments provider Chipper Cash. Flutterwave, which operates in 35 African countries, has been moving in parallel on the digital-asset side, rolling out stablecoin-based payment services last year that let businesses and consumers transact and hold dollar-pegged tokens. The deal gives Ripple access to one of Africa's largest fintech networks while handing Flutterwave additional infrastructure and expertise as both companies deepen their push into blockchain-based payments.