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Flutterwave, the financial technology company, has made headlines for its recent growth, spreading throughout Africa, North America, and Europe in just eight short years.
But while expansion is generally regarded as a positive attribute in the business press, it can be a double-edged sword in practice. Some ask if the pre-initial public offering startup has the ability to continue to deliver the same level of service and innovation at its current size. Can Flutterwave stay nimble while gaining mass?
Growing pains are a natural part of any expansion. However, many missteps can be prevented by a deliberate strategy that values smart moves over fast ones.
Flutterwave may seem like a rocket ship that’s been moving at lightning speed, growing over the past eight years from a startup company to a globe-spanning platform that boasts users across three continents. But a close look at the company’s trajectory reveals that its rapid rise was anything but reckless.
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Instead, at each phase of expansion, Flutterwave relied on hard data, guiding partnerships, and a finely honed strategy to move it from a small company with great potential to one of Africa’s most valuable startups.
Starting on the Right Foot
Even before it received a record-breaking $3 billion valuation in its Series D fundraise in 2022, Flutterwave was on a unique journey. Its road to global prominence started at inception.
“Flutterwave’s story came from my experience with the banks. I recall some of our customers back then were trying to expand across Africa, and it was hard. For me, that was very interesting, because I worked for a bank that was everywhere across the continent,” said Flutterwave founder and CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola.
“We were the largest bank by footprint, I think, in Africa at that time. And we couldn’t help these customers scale their businesses. It wasn’t because we couldn’t do it. It was because of the regulatory barriers, technology barriers, and the lack of agility on our part to build quickly and scale.”
That sparked something in Agboola. Not only did he see an opportunity to create a fintech company — one that could solve the sorts of problems that were plaguing African multinationals — he also realized that he would have to create a business that could grow.
Of course, every company wants to grow. But not every company starts its life with strategic growth in mind.
Agboola cut his teeth at some of the largest companies in the sector. He worked at both PayPal and Google Wallet, where he had a front-row seat to the benefits — and challenges — of rapid growth.
Based on his experience, he knew that fast, unplanned growth was both chaotic for employees and potentially harmful for the business as a whole. But he’d also seen the other side, when businesses stubbornly resist creating the tools they need to provide new and innovative services to their users.
“That was one of the triggers behind Flutterwave. I was wondering, ‘Why can’t we just build this infrastructure? Why, if I want to send money to Ghana, does money have to move from Lagos to New York, and from New York to Ghana?’” he said. “It didn’t make sense to me. If you get on a plane from Lagos to Ghana, you get there faster than doing a money transfer. You might as well take the money in a bag and get on a plane.”
Flutterwave: New Frontiers, New Challenges
Smart growth is an easy concept to sell, but a tough ideal to embody. Flutterwave found its perfect balance between growth and stability through the experience of its founder as well as insights from its partners.
Just after Agboola created the company, it landed a partnership with Uber. At the time, the ride-sharing service was experiencing its own set of growing pains.
Although wildly successful in the U.S. and many other countries across the globe, Uber ran into problems as it tried to move into Africa. Soon after launching services on the continent, it faced the same challenges Agboola was trying to solve at his bank. After meeting, it made sense for both parties to combine forces.
Uber executives realized Agboola’s vision could solve their expansion issues on the continent. So they joined forces with Flutterwave, all while imparting the lessons they’d learned from their own multinational expansion efforts.
The result was a win-win scenario that not only helped Flutterwave start its journey at a rapid pace, but also set it on a pace for patient — but sustained — growth.
Once the fintech platform was up and running in Africa, it wasn’t long before Flutterwave began eyeing new destinations, new products, and new user bases.
Now, the company operates in over 30 countries across the globe, allowing users to wire money, buy goods, and pay for services in dozens of currencies.
And it isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
While the enterprise will continue to explore its options worldwide, it’s also keeping one eye trained on its native soil. There are still many potential users to reach in Africa, said Agboola. And he intends to keep creating products that will improve their lives and transform their opportunities.
“I think it’s a great time to be here,” he said. “The market is still huge and still largely untapped. There is still a huge population that are not even banked at all on the continent. It’s just the place to be in the next 10 to 20 years. It’s going to be explosive. Our goal is to be here and stay alive to be able to harness the opportunity.”
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