Africa’s largest fintech company, Flutterwave, has acquired Nigerian open banking startup Mono in an all-stock deal valued between $25 million and $40 million, according to sources familiar with the transaction.
This acquisition unites two of Africa’s top fintech infrastructure companies. Flutterwave boasts one of the continent’s most extensive payment networks, while Mono, often referred to as the “Plaid for Africa,” has developed APIs that enable businesses to access bank data, initiate payments, and verify customers.
Mono has secured about $17.5 million from investors like Tiger Global, General Catalyst, and Target Global. Sources close to the deal indicated that the acquisition enabled all investors to at least recoup their capital, with some early investors seeing returns of up to 20x. The companies stated that Mono will continue to operate as an independent entity.
Founded in 2020, Mono, similar to Plaid, uses APIs that allow users to consent to share their bank information, enabling financial institutions to analyze income, spending habits, and repayment capabilities.
The company addresses the challenge of lacking standardized access to bank data in African markets, where credit bureaus are limited and fintechs, particularly lenders, often rely on customers’ bank transaction histories to evaluate creditworthiness.
CEO Abdulhamid Hassan noted that nearly all Nigerian digital lenders now depend on Mono’s infrastructure. The company claims to have enabled over 8 million bank account linkages, covering roughly 12% of Nigeria’s banked population, and has delivered 100 billion financial data points to lending companies while processing millions in direct bank payments. Its customers include Visa-backed Moniepoint and GIC-backed PalmPay.
For Flutterwave, which facilitates local and cross-border payments across more than 30 African countries, this deal enhances its vertical integration. Beyond payments, the company can now offer onboarding and identity checks, bank account verifications, data-driven risk assessments, and one-time or recurring bank payments all within a single framework.
Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola characterized the acquisition as a bet on the next phase of fintech growth in Africa. “Payments, data, and trust cannot exist in silos,” he said. “Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has laid down critical infrastructure in this space.”
Hassan supported this perspective, stating that Africa is moving into a credit-driven era as governments across the continent promote lending-driven financial inclusion initiatives. This transition relies on robust data infrastructure and regulatory confidence, especially in markets like Nigeria, where open banking frameworks are still being developed.
“If the economy is going to be credit-driven, you need deep data intelligence to understand how people earn and spend,” Hassan stated. “But for open banking to be effective, regulators must be confident that customer funds are secure.”
In this context, joining Flutterwave positions Mono for rapid scalability as regulatory obstacles ease. Flutterwave already operates across numerous African markets with local licenses, enterprise clients, and compliance teams established.
“This enables us to broaden what’s achievable for businesses operating across African markets while remaining focused on security, compliance, and local relevance,” Agboola said.
This transaction reflects previous consolidation efforts in the global fintech landscape, such as Visa’s attempted acquisition of Plaid in 2020, which was blocked by U.S. regulators. Hassan referenced that deal as evidence that merging data infrastructure with payment solutions can unlock significant growth.
Both Y Combinator-backed firms have Tiger Global as a common investor (it led Flutterwave’s Series C and Mono’s Series A). However, Hassan clarified that Tiger Global did not facilitate the transaction; instead, it stemmed from a long-standing collaborative relationship between the two companies, which have partnered on various bank payment products over the years.
This collaboration took place within an open banking environment that has evolved considerably over the past five years.
Upon launching, Mono faced competition from companies like Base10 Partners-backed Okra and Ribbit Capital-backed Stitch. Since then, Mono has solidified its position as a leader in the field, especially following Okra’s shutdown and Stitch’s strategic shift towards a deeper payments-focused ecosystem, which has allowed it to raise considerable capital.
Discussing Mono’s financial state ahead of the acquisition, Hassan mentioned that the company, which raised $15 million in Series A at a $50 million post-money valuation in 2021, was not pressured into a sale to Flutterwave and is on pace for profitability this year. He noted that, with substantial cash reserves, pursuing another funding round could have imposed new valuation and growth expectations in a challenging funding landscape.
Overall, this transaction—and similar consolidations between South African fintechs Lesaka and Adumo—indicates a significant turning point for African fintech. Startups that once aimed to become standalone giants may increasingly find success through integration into larger, scaled platforms.
