Flutterwave, Africa’s most valuable fintech company, 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 represents a rare and significant exit in Africa’s fintech ecosystem, where billion-dollar outcomes remain scarce.

The deal brings together two of the continent’s most influential financial infrastructure companies. Flutterwave operates one of Africa’s broadest payment networks, supporting local and cross-border transactions in more than 30 countries. Mono, often described as the “Plaid for Africa,” provides APIs that enable businesses to access bank data, verify customers, and initiate payments.

Mono will continue to operate as an independent product, both companies said, preserving its brand and core offering while gaining access to Flutterwave’s scale.

A win for investors in a tough funding climate

Founded in 2020, Mono raised about $17.5 million from investors including Tiger Global, General Catalyst, and Target Global. Sources close to the transaction said the acquisition allowed all investors to at least recoup their capital, with some early backers achieving returns of up to 20 times their initial investment.

At a time when venture funding across Africa has slowed sharply, the transaction stands out as a positive signal for founders and investors navigating a more cautious market.

Why Mono matters in African Fintech

Mono built its business around a simple but powerful idea: enabling standardized access to bank data in markets where financial information is fragmented and credit bureaus remain limited.

Using customer-consented APIs, Mono allows lenders and fintechs to analyze income flows, spending behavior, and repayment capacity directly from bank accounts. This infrastructure has become critical in Nigeria’s digital lending ecosystem, where transaction history often serves as the primary tool for assessing creditworthiness.

According to CEO Abdulhamid Hassan, nearly all Nigerian digital lenders now rely on Mono’s platform. The company says it has enabled more than 8 million bank account connections, representing roughly 12 percent of Nigeria’s banked population, and delivered over 100 billion financial data points to lending companies. Its customers include Visa-backed Moniepoint and GIC-backed PalmPay.

Strategic fit for Flutterwave

For Flutterwave, the acquisition deepens its vertical integration beyond payments. By adding Mono’s open banking capabilities, Flutterwave can now offer businesses a more complete financial stack, including customer onboarding, identity checks, bank account verification, risk assessment, and both one-time and recurring bank payments.

Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola described the deal as a strategic bet on the next phase of fintech growth in Africa.

“Payments, data, and trust cannot exist in silos,” Agboola said. “Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has built critical infrastructure in this space.”

The move positions Flutterwave to serve enterprises that want a single provider for payments and financial data across multiple African markets.

Africa’s shift toward Credit-Driven Finance

Hassan said the acquisition reflects a broader shift underway across the continent, as governments and financial institutions push toward credit-led financial inclusion.

“If the economy is going to be credit-driven, you need deep data intelligence to understand how people earn and spend,” he said. “At the same time, regulators need confidence that customer funds and data are safe.”

That regulatory confidence remains a work in progress, particularly in Nigeria, where open banking frameworks are still evolving. By joining Flutterwave, Mono gains access to established compliance teams, operating licenses, and enterprise relationships across dozens of markets — positioning it to scale quickly as regulations mature.

Consolidation signals a new phase for African Fintech

The transaction echoes consolidation trends seen globally, such as Visa’s attempted acquisition of Plaid in 2020, which was ultimately blocked by U.S. regulators. It also mirrors regional deals like the merger of South African fintechs Lesaka and Adumo.

Both Flutterwave and Mono count Tiger Global among their investors, though Hassan said the firm did not facilitate the transaction. Instead, the deal grew out of a longstanding partnership between the two companies, which had collaborated on several bank payment products over the years.

Mono entered a competitive open banking landscape alongside players such as Okra and Stitch. While Okra has since shut down and Stitch has pivoted toward a payments-heavy model, Mono emerged as a category leader — strong enough to attract acquisition interest without being forced into a sale.

Hassan noted that Mono was on track toward profitability and had sufficient cash reserves, but raising another funding round would have introduced new valuation pressures in a difficult market.

Beyond Flutterwave and Mono, the deal marks an inflection point for Africa’s fintech sector. As funding tightens and regulatory complexity increases, startups that once aimed to become standalone giants may increasingly find better outcomes by integrating into scaled platforms.

For Africa’s fintech ecosystem, the Flutterwave-Mono deal sends a clear message: exits are possible, infrastructure matters, and consolidation may define the continent’s next chapter of financial innovation.