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Flutterwave, a payments infrastructure company operating across Africa, has received a strategic investment from Ripple, a provider of blockchain-based enterprise solutions for traditional and digital finance, as part of Flutterwave's Series E funding round.
The round values Flutterwave at $3.2 billion. Under the terms of the investment, Ripple's USD-denominated stablecoin RLUSD, Ripple's payments network and the XRP Ledger (XRPL) will be integrated into Flutterwave's payment infrastructure.
Flutterwave has previously incorporated stablecoin-powered settlement, liquidity and remittance rails into its operations, and the Ripple investment builds on that work. RLUSD will be embedded into Flutterwave's payment rails and Send App remittance corridors as a settlement asset for high-volume channels.
The partnership also involves use of the XRP Ledger for transaction clearing, alongside the deployment of a unified API intended to connect Flutterwave's domestic network with Ripple Payments, Ripple's global payments network.
Flutterwave's existing payment methods, including local cards, mobile wallets and bank transfers, will continue to operate alongside the new infrastructure.
According to the companies, the combination is intended to address friction points in African cross-border payments, such as multi-day settlement delays and foreign exchange margin costs.
Reece Merrick, Managing Director, MEA, Ripple said:
"Flutterwave has built one of the most advanced payments networks in Africa, and as its infrastructure evolves, stablecoins are becoming central to that story. Our investment will establish RLUSD within that infrastructure, with Flutterwave driving stablecoin flows over the XRPL and deepening its role as a settlement layer for real-world payments across the continent. Together we also plan to bring Ripple Payments' speed and efficiency to cross-border transactions in the region, opening up faster, lower-cost financial services to businesses and consumers at scale."
Olugbenga "GB" Agboola, Founder and CEO, Flutterwave commented:
"This investment marks a pivotal moment in our journey, enabling us to significantly scale our infrastructure and expand our stablecoin-enabled payments roadmap. By unlocking faster settlement and lower-cost cross-border payments, we are building a payment superhighway that connects African commerce directly to the global economy. This partnership is a catalyst for Nigerian and African sovereignty in the digital financial age, ensuring our markets are primary participants in the global digital asset revolution."
Flutterwave has raised more than $500 million to date and has processed over a billion transactions worth more than $50 billion.
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