Ripple powers African payments.
Flutterwave Secures $3.2 Billion Series E Funding with Ripple Investing in African Payments.
Key Points
Techpoint Africa reported that Flutterwave’s Series E is its first major fundraising announcement since February 2022, underscoring how long the company had gone without a large funding update.
In the earlier disputed claims Flutterwave rejected, local media alleged President Bola Tinubu had approved a $75 million investment in the company via the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MoFI), and a now-deleted social-media post by a presidential aide suggested Flutterwave was preparing to raise “as much as $250 million” through an IPO—claims Flutterwave said it had no knowledge of.
Flutterwave said RLUSD will be embedded into both its payment rails and its Send App remittance corridors, where it will be used as a primary settlement asset for “high-volume channels” under the “stablecoin-first” architecture.
Ripple’s Middle East and Africa managing director, Reece Merrick, said stablecoins had become central to Flutterwave’s infrastructure strategy and that the investment is meant to help “establish RLUSD within that ecosystem.”
Blockchain.News cited external cost benchmarks to frame the need for stablecoin-enabled remittances: it said the World Bank estimates average remittance fees to Sub-Saharan Africa of about 6.5%–8.5% for a $200 transfer, compared with costs “as low as $0.50” using blockchain-based assets such as RLUSD or USDT on Tron.
African fintech giant Flutterwave has closed a Series E funding round that values the company at **$3.2 billion**, with U.S. blockchain firm Ripple joining as a strategic investor and shareholder, Yahoo Finance reported. The exact size of Ripple's stake was not disclosed. It is Flutterwave's first major fundraising announcement since its $250 million Series D in February 2022, according to Techpoint Africa.
The deal goes beyond a simple cash injection. Ripple will embed its USD-pegged stablecoin RLUSD, the XRP Ledger, and its global payments network directly into Flutterwave's infrastructure. Together, the companies aim to cut the cost of sending money to and across Africa — where fees on a $200 transfer can run as high as 8.5%, per World Bank estimates cited by Blockchain.News.
Three Years Between Funding Rounds, One Big Leap
Flutterwave last raised serious outside capital in early 2022, when a $250 million Series D pushed its valuation to $3 billion. The company stayed quiet on fundraising for more than three years. The new Series E nudges that valuation to $3.2 billion. Techpoint Africa notes Flutterwave has now raised over $500 million in total and has processed more than 1 billion transactions worth over $50 billion.
During that quiet period, Flutterwave faced sharp scrutiny over corporate governance and a murky path to a public listing. CEO Olugbenga "GB" Agboola has since shifted his language away from a rushed IPO toward what he calls "operational maturity." The Series E appears designed to give the company room to build before going public — possibly pushing any listing into 2027 or later.
Stablecoin-First: How RLUSD Replaces Traditional Settlement
The partnership rests on three technical pieces. First, RLUSD — a dollar-backed stablecoin — becomes the primary settlement asset for high-volume payment flows and remittance corridors inside Flutterwave's Send App. Second, the XRP Ledger handles faster transaction clearing, replacing slow batch processing used by traditional banks. Third, a unified API connects Flutterwave's local payment methods — cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers — to Ripple's global network, according to Electronic Payments International.
Ripple's Africa managing director, Reece Merrick, said Flutterwave had already built "one of the most advanced payments networks in Africa" and that the investment would "establish RLUSD within that infrastructure." Agboola described the goal as building a "payment superhighway that connects African commerce directly to the global economy." RLUSD currently carries a market cap of roughly $1.65 billion, up about 20% in the first half of 2026.
Remittance Fees Could Drop from 8% to Cents
The core economic case is stark. The World Bank puts average remittance fees to Sub-Saharan Africa at 6.5% to 8.5% on a $200 transfer. Blockchain.News cites estimates that blockchain-based settlement using assets like RLUSD can bring that cost down to as little as $0.50. Flutterwave operates across 35 African countries, giving the new stablecoin rails immediate scale in markets like Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt — three of the continent's largest remittance destinations.
RLUSD also gives African businesses a practical hedge. Local currencies in many of these markets swing sharply. By settling in a dollar-denominated stablecoin, businesses can avoid the friction and fees of traditional foreign-currency bank accounts. Analysts at The Cryptonomist caution, however, that the real test will be Nigeria itself, where regulatory rules around stablecoins have historically been unpredictable.
Nigerian Government Claims, Denied and Now Overshadowed
The Series E announcement also clears the air after a messy few months. In April 2026, Nigerian outlets including Vanguard reported that President Bola Tinubu had approved a $75 million investment in Flutterwave through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated. A presidential aide's social media post went further, suggesting Flutterwave was preparing to raise "as much as $250 million" through an IPO. Flutterwave flatly denied both claims, saying it had "no knowledge" of any such government investment.
The confirmed Series E — led by a U.S. blockchain company rather than sovereign funds — effectively answers what that speculation was circling. Nigerian media continue to frame Flutterwave as a project of national importance, but the company's leadership has made clear it intends to control its own capital story. With Ripple now on the cap table and a fresh $3.2 billion valuation in hand, Flutterwave moves into its next phase on its own terms.
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