Flutterwave valuation rises to $3.3 billion after Ripple takes an equity stake

Flutterwave has sold an equity stake to Ripple, lifting its valuation to $3.3 billion, CEO Olugbenga Agboola said in an interview with Bloomberg News published on June 16, 2026. For PSPs and banks watching Africa, the point is not just the price tag: Ripple is now inside the cap table, which usually means closer alignment on payments infrastructure, not just a commercial partnership.

1. Agboola did not disclose how much Ripple invested or what size stake it received. He said the company is “getting capital” and gaining greater access to payment infrastructure across Africa, while Ripple gets exposure to Flutterwave’s network from the equity side rather than only at the commercial level.
2. The deal sits in the middle of a broader push around faster and cheaper cross-border payments in Africa. Bloomberg said it gives Ripple access to one of Africa’s largest FinTech networks and gives Flutterwave additional infrastructure and expertise to expand both traditional and blockchain-based payment services.
3. Ripple has already been expanding on the continent through collaborations with Absa Bank in South Africa and payments provider Chipper Cash. Flutterwave, meanwhile, operates in 35 African countries and has been building out its digital assets operations.
4. Last year, Flutterwave launched stablecoin-based payment services that let businesses and consumers transact in and hold dollar-pegged tokens. For high-risk merchants and PSPs, that is the bit to watch: stablecoin rails are no longer a side project here, they are part of the product stack.
5. The same day, the International Monetary Fund published a report saying Nigeria accounts for 60% of stablecoin inflows in Africa since 2019. The IMF said stablecoins have become “a meaningful cross-border payments channel,” while also noting that they test the limits of existing monetary and regulatory frameworks.

The IMF also said stablecoins let anyone with a smartphone and internet access receive remittances or make cross-border payments within minutes, but that the same features create “policy tradeoffs,” including monetary sovereignty. In other words, the rail is useful because it is fast and easy; regulators notice for exactly the same reason.