Ripple has acquired a strategic stake in Flutterwave as part of a Series E round that values the fintech at roughly USD 3.2 billion. The move marks a direct infrastructure entry into Africa for Ripple and is intended to bring the RLUSD stablecoin into the continent's payment flows.
Flutterwave is Africa's leading payment company, headquartered in Nigeria, and it operates digital payment rails for merchants, banks and fintech providers across the entire continent. Founded in 2016 by Olugbenga Agboola, the company reached unicorn status as early as a USD 170 million Series C round. Subsequently, it tripled its valuation to USD 3 billion with the Series D in February 2022. Ripple, in turn, launched its RLUSD stablecoin in December 2024. Most recently, the provider acquired the open-banking startup Mono in January 2026 and received a Nigerian microfinance banking licence in April 2026. Today the fintech operates in 34 African countries and has additionally processed over 1 billion transactions with a total volume of more than USD 50 billion. In total, financing to date adds up to over USD 500 million.
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RLUSD integration across three layers of Flutterwave's infrastructure
The partnership is not a symbolic investment but a technical embedding across three defined layers. First, RLUSD is to be integrated into Flutterwave's payment rails and the corridors of the Send App. At the same time, the collaboration uses the XRP Ledger (XRPL) for faster transaction clearing. Furthermore, a unified API connects Flutterwave's domestic network with Ripple Payments.
The Send App originally launched as a pure remittance application. Subsequently, it was rebuilt into an infrastructure layer for currency wallets and stablecoin balances. Through this layer, RLUSD balances will be held and moved across borders in the future. The XRPL promises lower transaction costs here. Moreover, RLUSD transactions on the ledger settle in three to five seconds, according to Ripple. Cross-border payments in Africa have so far been expensive and slow. Therefore, this lever forms the actual economic core of the collaboration.
The rollout, however, is not happening everywhere at once. The RLUSD integration is planned for all countries where Flutterwave operates, yet it remains dependent on local regulatory requirements. As a result, the rollout is staggered by market. Flutterwave additionally expects the integration to lift its stablecoin volumes by at least 30 percent.
"We will establish RLUSD across this infrastructure, with Flutterwave as a driver for stablecoin flows over the XRPL." - Reece Merrick, Managing Director MEA, Ripple
Flutterwave's valuation rises to USD 3.2 billion
The Series E round values Flutterwave at roughly USD 3.2 billion. Compared with the Series D from February 2022, which stood at USD 3 billion after a round of more than USD 250 million, the valuation increase over four years is therefore moderate. The operational base, however, has broadened considerably since then. This is because the provider now processes over 1 billion transactions and is present in 34 countries.
Ripple's investment amount was not disclosed. Known, by contrast, is that it is a primary investment. The capital flows directly into Flutterwave's balance sheet and not to existing shareholders. Operationally, the fintech has also strengthened recently. Specifically, the acquisition of Mono and the microfinance banking licence in Nigeria expand its regulatory and technical reach.
Agboola has so far tied an IPO to profitability and named no date. The Series E therefore gives the company additional room to manoeuvre without relying on the capital market in the short term. At the same time, the moderate uplift versus 2022 signals that the round is geared more towards strategy than towards a maximum valuation.
RLUSD competes with USDT and USDC in the African market
RLUSD launched in December 2024 and reaches a market capitalisation of roughly USD 1.26 billion at the time of the announcement. According to Ripple, the stablecoin is backed 1:1 by cash and short-term US government bonds and runs on both Ethereum and the XRP Ledger. Within three months of launch, the product additionally counted over 20 institutional partners. RLUSD is therefore a comparatively young offering in a market dominated by established providers.
In African markets, USDT from Tether and USDC from Circle are already active. Measured by market capitalisation, the gap remains substantial, because USDT reaches around USD 183 billion and USDC around USD 75 billion. Ripple therefore positions RLUSD specifically as a US-regulated and balance-sheet-transparent stablecoin. Circle, in turn, is actively expanding its presence and advertised a growth role for Africa in May 2026. As a result, competition for the continent is intensifying on several sides at once.
This is precisely where Flutterwave's strategic value comes in. The primary bottleneck in the African stablecoin business rarely lies in technology but in reach to merchants and end users. Through a network with more than 1 billion processed transactions, RLUSD thus gains a distribution channel that a new entrant would need years to build. Ultimately, this differentiation through compliance and distribution is meant to justify the later market entry against the established providers.
Ripple targets a USD 1.5 trillion market in Africa by 2030
The addressable market is considerable. Mastercard forecasts a volume of USD 1.5 trillion for dollar-denominated payments in Africa by 2030. Moreover, the underlying momentum can already be measured today, because Sub-Saharan Africa received roughly USD 205 billion in on-chain value between July 2024 and June 2025, an increase of 52 percent year over year. Stablecoins account for around 43 percent of the region's total crypto transaction volume. Nigeria leads with USD 92.1 billion and is therefore the largest single market on the continent.
The economic driver is well documented. Conventional remittance channels charge an average of just under 9 percent in fees in the region, while stablecoin transfers via smartphone come out considerably cheaper. Furthermore, the IMF warned in June 2026 of a growing "digital dollarisation" in Nigeria, driven by persistent inflation, a weak naira and limited access to foreign exchange. At the same time, mobile money in Africa processed over USD 1.4 trillion in transactions in 2025, demonstrating the digital base on which stablecoin providers can build.
The regulatory framework has also solidified. Nigeria formally recognises digital assets as securities through the Investments and Securities Act 2025, Kenya enacted its Virtual Asset Service Providers Act in November 2025, and South Africa's FSCA approved over 300 of 512 licence applications by the end of 2025. Ripple additionally holds existing African partners such as Chipper Cash, VALR and Yellow Card. The timing of Ripple's Africa strategy is therefore no coincidence, because the settlement of the legal disputes with the SEC in 2024 and 2025 cleared the path for product expansion. For Agboola, cross-border value transfer currently ranks among the most underserved and fastest-growing markets worldwide.
