Ripple backs Flutterwave in Series E funding round

By Milan Rojan

Ripple has made a strategic investment in Flutterwave as part of the African payments company’s Series E funding round, in a move designed to accelerate stablecoin-based cross-border payments across the continent.

The partnership will see Ripple’s USD-denominated stablecoin RLUSD, its payments network and the XRP Ledger (XRPL) integrated into Flutterwave’s payments infrastructure. The companies said the collaboration will improve settlement speed, liquidity and cost efficiency for businesses and consumers using cross-border payment services in Africa.

Flutterwave, which operates one of Africa’s largest payments infrastructure platforms, said the investment will support its broader stablecoin strategy and help deepen its cross-border settlement capabilities. The company has said it intends to use RLUSD in selected payment flows and remittance corridors, while also leveraging Ripple Payments to support international transactions.

According to the companies, the integration will bring together local payment methods such as bank transfers, mobile wallets and cards with blockchain-based settlement infrastructure. They said this could reduce the delays and foreign exchange costs that have traditionally affected cross-border payments in the region.

Reece Merrick, Managing Director, Middle East and Africa at Ripple, said stablecoins had become central to Flutterwave’s infrastructure story and that the investment would help establish RLUSD within that ecosystem. He added that the companies planned to bring faster and lower-cost financial services to businesses and consumers at scale.

Flutterwave founder and chief executive Olugbenga “GB” Agboola said the investment had marked a key milestone in the company’s growth strategy and would support its stablecoin-enabled payments roadmap.

The Series E round has valued Flutterwave at $3.2 billion, according to the company. Flutterwave said it has raised more than $500 million to date and has processed over a billion transactions worth more than $50 billion.

The latest investment has underscored growing interest in stablecoin infrastructure as payment providers look to modernise cross-border finance across Africa.