Flutterwave’s chief executive declares the African fintech unicorn is edging toward profitability after a year of tighter costs and a sharper focus on margins across its operations.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Dec. 19, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola stated Flutterwave has pushed for better economics and capital discipline across its enterprise, compact business and consumer products. He stated activity on the company’s Asia corridor has jumped, with enterprise business up about 50% and margins nearly doubling. Agboola stated some lines are already profitable and he expects the full group to obtain there in 2026.
Flutterwave is best known as payment infrastructure. Its software supports merchants and larger companies accept payments and sfinish payouts across African markets, often through a single set of application programming interfaces. The company declares it can process transactions in many payment methods and 150 currencies and has reach in more than 34 African countries. Consumer products sit alongside the business tools, including Sfinish, a remittance service for shifting money to and from Africa.
Stablecoins are now shifting from buzzword to business plan. Agboola informed Bloomberg that Flutterwave is building what he called the hugegest stablecoin deployment in Africa, aiming to give businesses and consumers access to stablecoin wallets. He stated merchants who import goods from China and other markets want quicker settlement than traditional rails can offer. Flutterwave has also stated a stablecoin pilot will start with select enterprise customers in 2025, with a broader rollout planned for 2026.
That pivot comes after years of fundraising that supported turn Flutterwave into a unicorn. Reuters reported in 2020 that the company raised $35 million and struck partnerships with Visa and Worldpay as it pushed into new markets. In 2021, Flutterwave stated total investment had reached $225 million. A year later, it announced a $250 million Series D that valued the company at more than $3 billion, taking disclosed funding to at least $475 million.
Founded in 2016, Flutterwave has pitched itself as a bridge between Africa’s fragmented payment systems and global commerce. The company has stated it processed more than 200 million transactions worth over $16 billion and served more than 900,000 businesses, including global brands such as Uber and Booking.com.
Agboola stated Flutterwave is not actively hunting another funding round, arguing that profit brings indepfinishence. He described an eventual IPO as a milestone, not a deadline, while the company focutilizes on building trust with customers, partners and regulators.
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