Rewrite: 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 brings together two major players in Africa’s fintech infrastructure ecosystem. Flutterwave operates one of the continent’s largest payments networks, while Mono provides APIs that allow businesses to access bank data, verify customers, and initiate payments.
Mono will continue to operate as an independent product, the companies said. Founded in 2020, the startup has raised about $17.5 million from investors including Tiger Global, General Catalyst and Target Global. Sources said the deal allowed all investors to at least recoup their capital, with some early backers recording returns of up to 20 times their initial investment.
Mono’s technology enables users to consent to sharing their bank information, allowing lenders and financial institutions to analyse income, spending behaviour and repayment capacity. The company has positioned itself as a key solution in African markets where credit bureaus are limited and lenders rely heavily on bank transaction data to assess creditworthiness.
Mono said it has powered more than 8 million bank account linkages, covering about 12% of Nigeria’s banked population, and delivered over 100 billion financial data points to lending companies. Its customers include Moniepoint and PalmPay.
For Flutterwave, which operates across more than 30 African countries, the acquisition strengthens its product stack beyond payments to include onboarding, identity verification, data-driven risk assessment, and direct bank payments.
Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola said the deal reflects a belief that Africa’s next fintech growth phase will require tighter integration between payments, data and trust infrastructure. Mono CEO Abdulhamid Hassan said the acquisition positions the company to scale more rapidly as open banking regulations mature across the continent.
The transaction adds to a growing trend of consolidation in African fintech, as infrastructure startups increasingly seek scale through integration rather than standalone expansion.
