Flutterwave raises $250M & now is the highest valued African startup 🤯; FinTech super-API for the Middle East & Africa? 🤔; JPMorgan’s bank branch in the metaverse 🏦🕶

Good Morning FinTech, February 17

Good day Everyone,

And happy Thursday! The week is approaching an end, but it seems that financial technology space is only heating up. Check it out yourselves, as these 3 FinTech stories are something you absolutely cannot miss:

Flutterwave raises $250M & now is the highest valued African startup 🤯

The funding 💸 Payments technology firm Flutterwave has raised $250M in a Series D round. The latest funding round was led by investors including Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's venture capital firm B Capital Group and Boston-based hedge fund Whale Rock Capital Management.

This puts the valuation of payments FinTech at over $3 billion, which is an x3 increase in less than 1 year. Wow! 🤯

The USP & some numbers 🥊📈 Flutterwave started off in 2016 with a mission to build a payments technology infrastructure that connects Africa to the rest of the world. Or to simplify payments for endless possibilities, as it is said in its mission.

Fast forward to 2022, the company has over 900,000 businesses globally that trust them with their payments, has processed over 200 million transactions worth more than $16 billion.

Africa rising 🦄 Flutterwave is now the highest valued African startup with this investment, surpassing the $2 billion valuation set by SoftBank-backed FinTech OPay and FTX-backed cross-border payments platform Chipper Cash last year.

Why does it matter? It’s a boost on a few levels, here’s why👇🏼