Gbenga Agboola says Flutterwave’s IPO plans remain on track despite unstable market

Olugbenga Agboola, Flutterwave’s co-founder and CEO, has reiterated the company’s plans to go ahead with its planned Initial Public Offering (IPO) against all odds, citing the need to meet global clients’ standards and compliance.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the founder reaffirms that even though the market isn’t stable right now, which could hamper the listing, the company is still dedicated to making sure that its interactions with international clients and adherence to global compliance are enhanced. He thinks the IPO provides the business with this.

“There’s some kind of customers we’ll attract when we are public. The large global clients who need you to have the same level of compliance and level of global view that they have,” 

Olugbenga Agboola, Flutterwave’s co-founder and CEO according to the nterview.

“The markets aren’t great right now,” and this could slow any listing, Agboola added, while not specifically stating a date for the IPO.

Agboola also brushed aside allegations of internal bickering involving former employees’ stock rights. He asserted that issues around staff harassment and bullying were “very, very isolated,” cases and therefore, wouldn’t affect the planned share sale.

Read also: With Tuition, Flutterwave makes its bid to cash in on the japa wave

Agboola’s confidence in Flutterwave’s marketability

While the unicorn has been embroiled in several cases with authorities in different parts of Africa, it has remained one of the consistent top performers. This is especially so in terms of product acceptability and investor confidence, which was highlighted by the most recent funding that tripled its valuation to about $3 billion.

A few months ago, the company launched a new payment product called Tuition to allow African users seamlessly pay various fees to educational institutions within Africa and overseas using their local currencies.

Bloomberg also reports that while declining to give an annual increase in total revenue, Flutterwave said that its payment processing business through its payments app, SendApp, increased 23-fold in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2022. According to it, payments through point-of-sale devices rose more than fivefold and revenue in its small and medium business units jumped almost fourfold.

Agboola has expressed confidence in the company’s ability to expand and grow its reach further. According to him, there is the possibility for expansion into new markets and possible acquisitions when possible.

“The goal is to make merchants across Africa, consumers across Africa use us more and know that we are the most reliable platform to use,” he said. “Africa is huge, the potential is huge,”

Olugbenga Agboola

In June, Flutterwave announced a partnership with Microsoft to build its next-generation platform on Microsoft Azure, to power payments infrastructure in Africa and beyond. The company said the partnership will help it support the accelerated growth of transactions processed on the Flutterwave platform for global clients like Uber, Netflix, and Microsoft, solidifying Azure’s role in facilitating a seamless, reliable, and secure payment experience.

Since its founding in 2016, Flutterwave has rapidly expanded and now has a presence in about 30 African countries. The company recently disclosed its intention to establish an office in Nairobi, Kenya, as it seeks to expand services in East Africa.

As part of its scaling scheme in Africa, Flutterwave is fully licensed to operate in Rwanda and Egypt after obtaining an electronic money issuer license that enables the company to acquire all types of payment instruments.

Agboola’s stake in the company was worth more than $370 million as of the company’s funding round last year, according to an analysis by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index using Pitchbook data.

Read also: Flutterwave funds still frozen as Kenyan Court thwarts move to withdraw case