Flutterwave, a leading African fintech providing payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers, has acquired Nigerian open banking startup Mono in an all-stock transaction valued between $25 million and $40 million, according to sources familiar with the deal.
Founded in 2020, Mono powers Africa’s digital economy by providing financial data, identity verification, and direct bank payments for businesses. This enables financial institutions to analyze income flows, spending patterns, and repayment capacity, which have become foundational to modern lending, costs, and embedded finance.
The acquisition marks a strategic shift for Flutterwave as it looks beyond payment rails to address deeper structural challenges within Africa’s financial ecosystem.
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Moving Beyond Payments to Trust and Interoperability
Africa’s financial system has long been characterized by fragmented infrastructure and disconnected platforms. While Flutterwave has played a major role in building payment bridges across the continent, the company says unlocking Africa’s full digital economy requires going deeper into data, trust, and interoperability.
By integrating Mono’s open banking and account-based payment infrastructure into its ecosystem, Flutterwave says it is not merely adding a new product, but upgrading the core engine that powers its platform. The combined infrastructure is expected to make payments more inclusive, interoperable, and scalable for businesses and consumers across Africa.
Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola described the acquisition as a bet on the next phase of Africa’s fintech evolution.
He said, “Payments, data, and trust cannot exist in silos. Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has built critical infrastructure in this space.”
Also commenting, Mono CEO and co-founder Abdul Hassan described the deal as a strategic move to accelerate a shared vision.
In his words, “This acquisition is not just a milestone for our company; it’s a strategic move to accelerate our shared vision. By combining Flutterwave’s scale and network with Mono’s pioneering technology, we are positioned to deliver one of the most comprehensive financial stacks for SMEs, enterprises, and developers across Africa.”
Mono claims its infrastructure is used by nearly all digital lenders in Nigeria. The company says it has powered over 8 million bank account linkages, representing roughly 12% of Nigeria’s banked population, delivered more than 100 billion financial data points to lending companies, and processed millions of dollars in direct bank payments.
What the Deal Means for Flutterwave Merchants
For merchants using Flutterwave, the acquisition is expected to significantly reduce friction, particularly around onboarding and customer verification.
With Mono’s APIs integrated directly into Flutterwave’s systems:
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KYC processes that previously took days could be completed in seconds
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Transaction intelligence is expected to improve through better customer verification and risk assessment
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Scalability will increase, enabling merchants to explore new business models and markets
In an increasingly competitive digital economy, speed is becoming a defining advantage, and the combined platform aims to deliver it at scale.
Unlocking Growth for SMEs
Small and medium-sized enterprises remain the backbone of Africa’s economy, yet many have struggled with rigid systems that make customer verification and access to financial data complex and costly.
Flutterwave says the acquisition changes that dynamic by lowering barriers to entry and simplifying how trust is established between businesses and their customers. Faster onboarding, clearer customer visibility, and access to modern financial tools could help SMEs scale more efficiently. The company argues that enabling SME growth has a multiplier effect driving employment, innovation, and broader economic development across the continent.
Beyond merchants and SMEs, the integration is expected to improve everyday payment experiences for consumers. By embedding open banking deeper into payment flows, transactions such as bank transfers and service payments could become faster and more seamless, with technology operating largely in the background.
At an ecosystem level, Flutterwave and Mono say the combined infrastructure will strengthen Africa’s “payments superhighway” connecting banks, fintechs, and businesses while enabling faster innovation in payments, lending, and embedded finance.
Together, both companies aim to expand the potential of open banking across Africa, positioning local businesses to build globally competitive financial products and participate more fully in the global digital economy.