Flutterwave has acquired Nigerian open banking startup Mono in an all-stock transaction valued between $25 million and $40 million, marking a major consolidation move in Africa’s fintech infrastructure space.
The deal combines two leading infrastructure providers as Flutterwave moves to strengthen its platform with open banking, financial data access, identity verification, and direct bank payment services, capabilities increasingly central to the future of digital payments in Africa.
As part of the agreement, Mono will continue to run as a standalone product, with its leadership team and operations unchanged. The transaction allows Mono’s investors to recover their capital, with some early backers reportedly achieving returns of up to 20 times.
Strategic Rationale Behind the Acquisition
Flutterwave said Mono’s technology offers secure access to bank accounts, financial data, identity checks, and account-to-account payments, all of which are becoming more important as African fintechs transition away from card-heavy payment systems toward bank-authenticated alternatives.
Commenting on the acquisition, Flutterwave Founder and CEO Olugbenga Agboola said the move reflects a long-term vision for building resilient financial infrastructure across the continent.
“Payments, data, and trust cannot exist in silos. Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has built critical infrastructure in this space. This acquisition allows us to expand what’s possible for businesses operating across African markets, while staying grounded in security, compliance, and local relevance,” he said.
A Partnership Years in the Making
Mono Founder and CEO Abdulhamid Hassan said the acquisition builds on a relationship that began with a partnership between both companies in 2021.
“Mono’s strengths in financial data, bank payments, and identity verification, combined with Flutterwave’s scale and global footprint, create a more comprehensive and defensible infrastructure platform,” Hassan said.
According to Flutterwave, integrating Mono’s open banking APIs will enhance its platform by enabling:
- Faster and smoother merchant onboarding
- Stronger identity and bank verification
- Lower fraud rates
- Seamless account-to-account payments across African markets
Impact on Compliance, Developers, and Platform Growth
Beyond payments, the acquisition is expected to streamline compliance-intensive processes, including customer verification and bank authentication for businesses operating in regulated environments.
Developers and ecosystem partners are also likely to benefit from a more unified infrastructure layer, where payments and financial data services are tightly integrated, reducing operational complexity and speeding up product launches.
Flutterwave added that the deal improves its vertical integration, potentially delivering stronger margins, deeper customer retention, and a more differentiated infrastructure offering.
From a regulatory standpoint, the acquisition aligns with global security and data protection frameworks such as PCI-DSS and ISO 27001.
Open Banking’s Growing Role in African Fintech
Across Africa, fintech platforms are increasingly shifting from card-based payments to bank-driven, authenticated, and alternative payment methods. Open banking is emerging as a key enabler of this shift, allowing trusted data sharing, direct bank payments, and the development of new financial products.
With this acquisition, Flutterwave positions itself more centrally in shaping the next stage of Africa’s payments evolution, as demand grows for interoperable systems that support scale, regulatory compliance, and cross-border operations.
While open banking is still at an early stage in many African markets, it is increasingly viewed as foundational infrastructure for fintech innovation, alternative payments, and future use cases such as open banking-powered digital assets and stablecoins.
Mono’s Origins and Growth Story
In a recent interview with Nairametrics, Hassan recounted how he left Paystack to found Mono in 2020, long before open banking gained mainstream attention in Nigeria.
At the time, Hassan believed that financial data, not just payments, would define the next wave of fintech innovation.
Five years on, Mono reports that it has:
- Processed over 150 billion transactions
- Served more than 7 million users
- Expanded beyond Nigeria into Kenya and Ghana
The acquisition represents a significant milestone for both companies and highlights the rising strategic importance of open banking infrastructure in Africa’s fast-maturing fintech ecosystem.
