Flutterwave Pursues Aggressive Expansion Strategy Across Africa With Disha Acquisition

It’s been a busy year for Flutterwave, as it pursues an aggressive expansion strategy geared toward cementing its place as the leading pan-African payments technology company.

The Silicon Valley-based startup announced on Wednesday (Nov. 10) that it has acquired Disha, a Nigerian platform that allows digital creators to curate and receive payments from their content and portfolios worldwide.

The news couldn’t have come at a better time for Disha, which announced earlier this year that it was closing for undisclosed reasons. Under the terms of the deal, Disha will continue to operate as a separate brand, but its 20,000 users can earn value for their digital content using Flutterwave’s payouts and collections solution.

Flutterwave’s Founder and CEO Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola said the investment is a way for the cross-border payments startup to provide new opportunities for freelancers and creators. “Beyond Disha users, this is an exciting effort to equip the global creator community of about 50 [million] individuals with innovative tools to grow their craft,” Agboola added. 

Read more: Big-Name Partnerships Advance Continent-Wide Ambitions of Pan-African Payments Startup Flutterwave

The news comes on the heels of recent big-name partnership deals involving Flutterwave — and reports that the company was in talks with potential backers for new funding at a minimum valuation of $3 billion, about triple its current value.

Related news: Nigerian Payments Startup Flutterwave Seeks New Funding at $3B Valuation

Last month, the payments firm announced a partnership with nonprofit Stellar Development Foundation to introduce two new remittance passageways on the Stellar cross-country transaction system that will simplify remittances in Africa and enable cross-border payments from Europe to Africa.

Also see: Flutterwave Enables X-Border Payments From Europe to Africa

The company also announced another collaboration with Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, to provide Standard’s individual and business customers in nine African countries with access to Flutterwave’s enhanced digital payments system. The two companies will also build eCommerce, card issuing, buy now, pay later (BNPL) and other capabilities for the millions of consumers in the region.

Learn more: PayPal, Flutterwave Deal Targets African Market

In September, Flutterwave also inked mobile payment deals with two of Africa’s largest carriers, Airtel and MTN Group. And in March, it launched a collaboration with PayPal that will allow the global payments giant’s 370 million-plus account holders to pay African merchants through the startup’s platform.

Founded in 2016, Flutterwave has become one of the fastest-growing payment companies in the world, processing about 100 million transactions valued at over $5.4 billion since its launch. The firm operates across 33 African countries, serving close to 300,000 merchants, including Uber, Booking.com, Flywire and Facebook. 

According to a PYMNTS report, the firm was one of the many beneficiaries of the pandemic-induced digital shift in payments, recording revenue growth of 225% between 2018 and 2020.

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