Flutterwave moves forward with IPO plans for global expansion

Olugbenga Agboola, CEO/Co-founder of Flutterwae Africa’s payment startup says the platform will be continuing with its initial public offering (IPO) in its bid to access bigger partners.

This announcement came after the fintech platform had made headway in resolving allegations of financial impropriety in Kenya.

According to Agboola in an interview with Bloomberg, the company brushed aside accusations that it had refused to honour former employees’ stock rights and that staff were harassed and bullied, saying these were “very, very isolated,” cases and they wouldn’t impact the IPO.

Flutterwave, which operates in more than 30 African countries, has gotten approvals that put it on the road to doing business in Kenya, a crucial African market, Agboola added.

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The company also won licenses from Rwanda’s central bank earlier this year, allowing it to expand its operations in that country.

“There’s some kind of customers we’ll attract when we are public,” he said in the interview. “The large global clients who need you to have the same level of compliance and level of global view that they have.”

The news follows Flutterwave’s announcement earlier this month that it had extended its remittance solution Send App to Canada and the U.S., allowing for money transfers from those countries to customers in Africa.

“The Send App is a user-friendly remittance solution built on our cross-border experience and global payment infrastructure reach that empowers diaspora Africans to make money transfers to the African continent quickly and easily,” Agboola said.

Flutterwave noted that remittances to Africa were $100 billion in 2022, with funds going to 200 million people.

This year has also seen the company launch Tuition, a product that lets African users pay fees to educational institutions both within Africa and overseas by using local currencies, and form a partnership with Token.io to offer pay-by-bank capabilities.

Agboola expressed confidence in the company’s ability to expand and grow its reach further. According to him, there is the possibility for expansion into new markets and possible acquisitions when possible.