Africa’s largest fintech company, Flutterwave, has acquired Nigerian open banking startup Mono in an all-stock transaction valued between $25 million and $40 million, according to people familiar with the deal. The acquisition is a major expansion of Flutterwave’s infrastructure play beyond payments into data-driven financial services.
The deal brings together two of Africa’s most influential fintech infrastructure companies. Flutterwave operates one of the continent’s widest payment networks, enabling local and cross-border transactions across more than 30 African countries. Mono, often described as the “Plaid for Africa,” provides APIs that allow businesses to access bank data, verify customers, initiate payments, and analyse financial behaviour with user consent.
Under the terms of the transaction, Mono will continue to operate as an independent product while being integrated into Flutterwave’s broader platform. This setup allows Flutterwave to offer payments, onboarding, identity verification, bank account checks, and data-based risk assessment within a single technology stack.
Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola said the acquisition reflects a strategic bet on Africa’s next phase of fintech growth. “Payments, data, and trust cannot exist in silos,” he said. “Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has built critical infrastructure in this space.”
Founded in 2020, Mono has become core infrastructure for Nigeria’s digital lending ecosystem. In a market with limited credit bureau coverage, lenders often rely on bank transaction data to assess creditworthiness. Mono enables consumers to consent to sharing their bank information, allowing fintechs to analyse income, spending patterns, and repayment capacity.
Mono CEO Abdulhamid Hassan said nearly all Nigerian digital lenders now rely on the company’s infrastructure. Mono claims to have powered more than 8 million bank account linkages, covering about 12% of Nigeria’s banked population. It has delivered over 100 billion financial data points to lenders and processed millions of dollars in direct bank payments. Its customers include Visa-backed Moniepoint and GIC-backed PalmPay.
The startup has raised about $17.5 million from investors including Tiger Global, General Catalyst, and Target Global. Sources close to the deal said the acquisition allowed investors to at least recoup their capital, with some early backers recording returns of up to 20x. Such outcomes have become rare amid a tougher funding climate for African startups.
For Flutterwave, the acquisition deepens vertical integration at a time when fintechs face pressure to improve unit economics and expand product relevance. Beyond card and bank payments, the company can now embed open banking tools such as income verification, account ownership checks, and recurring bank payments directly into its platform.
Hassan described the deal as a response to Africa’s shifting financial landscape. He said governments across the continent are pushing lending-led financial inclusion, which requires deep data intelligence and strong regulatory trust. “If the economy is going to be credit-driven, you need to understand how people earn and spend,” he said. “At the same time, regulators need confidence that customer data and funds are safe.”
Open banking regulation across Africa, especially in Nigeria, is still evolving. Against that backdrop, Hassan said joining Flutterwave positions Mono to scale faster once regulatory barriers ease. Flutterwave already operates across dozens of markets with local licences, enterprise clients, and compliance teams.
The transaction mirrors earlier consolidation efforts in global fintech infrastructure, including Visa’s attempted acquisition of Plaid in 2020. Both Flutterwave and Mono are backed by Y Combinator and share Tiger Global as a common investor, though Hassan said the firm did not facilitate the deal. Instead, it grew out of a long-standing commercial relationship between the two companies.
