Flutterwave Acquires Mono To Strengthen Africa’s Open Banking Ecosystem

Flutterwave has completed the acquisition of the Nigerian open banking startup Mono in an all-stock transaction valued at between $25 million and $40 million.

LEADERSHIP reports that the Mono has connected over eight million bank accounts, about 12 per cent of Nigeria’s banked population, and delivered nearly 100 billion data points to lenders.

Additionally, Mono raised approximately $17.5 million from investors, including Tiger Global, General Catalyst, and Target Global.

However, the acquisition brought together two key components of the continent’s fintech backbone, payments and financial data, at a time when regulation, scale and long-term sustainability are reshaping the industry.

Sources close to the transaction disclosed that Mono’s investors will at least recoup their initial investments, while some early backers recorded returns of up to 20 times. Mono will, however, continue to run as an independent product.

Flutterwave’s Chief Executive Officer, Olugbenga Agboola, described the move as a strategic bet on the future of African finance.

According to Agboola, Mono has built critical infrastructure in the Nigerian open banking space.

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

“This allows us to expand what’s possible for businesses operating across African markets while staying grounded in security, compliance, and local relevance,” he said.

Additionally, Mono’s Chief Executive Officer, Abdulhamid Hassan, stated that almost every digital lender in Nigeria now relies on Mono’s platform.

He asserted that the transaction is timely, stressing that the continent is entering a new phase where access to credit, rather than just payments, will define financial inclusion.

“If the economy is going to be credit-driven, you need deep data intelligence to know how people earn and spend. “But at the same time, for open banking to really work, regulators need to be confident that customer funds are safe,” he said.