#18: Flutterwave - From Y Combinator to becoming one of Africa’s largest FinTech platforms

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about Flutterwave - the African payments infrastructure company - we’ll give some context of the Nigerian payments sector before 2014, Flutterwave's founding, early history, growth over time & end with our views on its future outlook. This episode was recorded on Dec 13, 2020.

Companies discussed: Flutterwave, Y Combinator (YC), Fora.com, Interswitch, Adyen, Visa, MasterCard, Stripe, Shopify & Paystack

Business concepts discussed: Payments ecosystem, payments partnerships strategy, startup accelerators, payments infrastructure, low-end disruption, banking regulation & payments M&A strategy

Conversation highlights:

• (1:35) - Why Flutterwave is important
  
• (04:10) - Background on Iyin “E” Aboyeji
  
• (11:38) - How payments worked before Flutterwave (before 2014) in Nigeria
  
• (16:40) - Flutterwave closed beta and Y Combinator 2016
  
• (19:36) - Flutterwave growth and product launches
  
• (30:15) - Fundraising - Series A, Series B and valuation
  
• (42:50) - Partnerships - Visa, AliPay & WorldPay
  
• (48:00) - Payments landscape and competition
  
• (57:56) - Flutterwave today
  
• (1:02:42) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
  
• (1:06:10) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
  
• (1:14:29) - Recommendations, small wins and open questions
  

Olumide’s recommendations, small wins & open questions:

• Recommendation: Millionaires Unveiled podcast episode 47: $40K salary and $1.4M net worth. Loved the story of happiness and perseverance and being contrarian to live a unique life
  
• Small win: Drinking Kale/berry smoothie mix (vs 2 blending vegetables and berries separately)
  
• Open question: What are the next FinTech platforms? What can be built on top of flutterwave?
  

Bankole’s recommendations, small wins & open questions:

• Recommendation: Productive Uncertainty | Reaction Wheel - link
  
• Small win: Getting to Division 2 in FIFA 21 Online seasons
  
• Other content: Flutterwave on Y Combinator
  
• Open question: What do you think are potential exit options for Flutterwave?
  

We’d love to hear from you. If you have feedback, topics you’d like to hear, or just want to say hello, please email info@afrobility.com

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