Flutterwave, one of Africa’s largest payments companies, has acquired Nigerian open banking startup, Mono, in an all-stock transaction valued between $25 million and $40 million, bringing two critical layers of fintech infrastructure under one roof.
The acquisition comes at a pivotal moment for the continent’s financial technology sector, as regulation, scale, and survival increasingly define success.
Sources familiar with the deal say Mono’s investors will at least recover their capital, while some early backers have realised returns of up to 20 times. Mono will continue to operate as a standalone product.
Flutterwave’s Chief Executive, Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, describes the deal as a long-term play on how African finance will work.
“Payments, data, and trust cannot exist in silos,” he said. “Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has built critical infrastructure in this space. This allows us to expand what’s possible for businesses operating across African markets while staying grounded in security, compliance, and local relevance.”
What You Need to Know
Founded in 2020, Mono addresses a fundamental challenge for African fintechs. Through its APIs, Mono allows customers to consent to businesses accessing bank information, verify accounts, analyse income and spending, and trigger payments.
Mono reports over eight million bank account connections, representing roughly 12% of Nigeria’s banked population, and has delivered around 100 billion data points to lenders. Its clients include Visa-backed Moniepoint and GIC-backed PalmPay.
The company has raised approximately $17.5 million from investors including Tiger Global, General Catalyst, and Target Global. CEO Abdulhamid Hassan says nearly every digital lender in Nigeria now depends on Mono’s infrastructure.
Hassan agrees that the timing is important, and argues that Africa is moving into a phase where credit, not just payments, will drive financial inclusion.
“If the economy is going to be credit-driven, you need deep data intelligence to know how people earn and spend,” Hassan said. “But at the same time, for open banking to really work, regulators need to be confident that customer funds are safe.”
Flutterwave Deepens its Financial Stack
Flutterwave, which handles local and cross-border payments across more than 30 African countries, raised $250 million in a Series D round in March 2025, valuing the company at $3 billion. In 2024 alone, it processed $31 billion in transactions.
While payments remain core to its business, Flutterwave is moving into onboarding, identity verification, bank account validation, data-driven risk assessment, and recurring payment capabilities.
The Mono acquisition allows these services to be offered within a single platform, strengthening Flutterwave’s proposition as Nigeria’s open banking framework comes online.
In August 2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria formalised open banking, requiring banks to share customer data via standardised APIs, provided users consent. Mono’s infrastructure, built quietly over several years, now becomes regulated national infrastructure, ready for scale.
Strategic and Regulatory Advantages
For Mono, joining Flutterwave provides access to licences, compliance frameworks, and enterprise customers across dozens of African markets. The partnership allows Mono’s tools to scale faster when regulatory barriers fall, without the need to rebuild systems country by country.
The timing also aligns with a shift in African fintech. With tighter capital, heavier regulation, and increased pressure on scale, startups are increasingly consolidating infrastructure rather than attempting to grow in isolation. Analysts compare the deal to Visa’s attempted acquisition of Plaid in 2020, highlighting the value of combining payment rails with data platforms.
Both Flutterwave and Mono share a history with Tiger Global, which backed both companies in previous rounds. Hassan notes that the acquisition was not brokered by Tiger, but evolved from years of collaboration, including joint work on bank payment products prior to acquisition discussions.
Industry leaders say the Flutterwave-Mono deal reflects the maturing of African fintech, where infrastructure is consolidating and regulation is catching up.
Talking Points
It is impressive that Flutterwave has acquired Mono, combining Africa’s largest payments platform with one of the continent’s most widely used open banking infrastructures. This move positions Flutterwave as a practical solution for businesses and financial service providers that rely on accurate, consented data to make lending, payments, and risk assessment more efficient and inclusive.
At Techparley, we see how deals like this can accelerate the development of Africa’s financial ecosystem. By merging payment rails with open banking APIs, the acquisition strengthens the foundation for digital credit, recurring payments, and cross-border transfers.
The acquisition also highlights the importance of regulatory alignment. With Nigeria formalising its open banking framework, Flutterwave and Mono can now operate within a trusted, compliant environment, enabling wider adoption of data-driven financial services.
However, as Flutterwave scales its new capabilities, there is an opportunity to deepen partnerships, support more lenders and merchants, and consolidate infrastructure across multiple countries. With the right execution, this deal could become a benchmark for integrated fintech solutions in Africa.
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