Flutterwave acquires Mono in an all-stock deal, strengthening open banking infrastructure and alternative payment methods across Africa

Africa’s largest fintech company, Flutterwave, has acquired Nigerian open banking start-up Mono in an all-stock transaction, deepening its strategic push into open banking infrastructure and alternative payment systems across the continent.

Also read: Flutterwave’s TIME 100 recognition signals bold African fintech revolution

Flutterwave disclosed the acquisition in a blog post on Monday but did not reveal the financial value of the deal.

The company said the transaction positions open banking as a core pillar in the evolution of payments in Africa and reflects a long-term commitment to building a connected and interoperable financial system for businesses operating across multiple markets.

Founded in 2020, Mono provides an API-driven platform that enables secure access to financial data, identity verification and account-to-account payments, services that are becoming increasingly central as African markets shift towards more data-led and authenticated financial services.

Flutterwave said Mono would continue to operate independently under the existing leadership team, with no changes to day-to-day operations or organisational structure.

The fintech group said the acquisition represents strategic alignment rather than operational control, allowing Mono to maintain its pace of innovation while contributing its infrastructure to Flutterwave’s broader payments ecosystem.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flutterwave, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, said the deal reflects how the company views the future of financial infrastructure in Africa.

“This acquisition reflects how we think about the future of financial infrastructure in Africa. Payments, data and trust cannot exist in silos,” Agboola said.

“Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has built critical infrastructure in this space. This allows us to expand what’s possible for businesses across African markets while staying grounded in security, compliance and local relevance.”

The acquisition comes as industry players increasingly see the next phase of Africa’s payments growth as being driven less by card-based systems and more by bank-based, authenticated and locally relevant payment methods.

By integrating Mono’s open banking APIs, Flutterwave said it would be able to support faster onboarding, improved identity verification, reduced fraud and more seamless account-to-account payments.

The integration is also expected to enable richer alternative payment methods and, over time, open banking-enabled stablecoin use cases.

The deal carries wider implications for developers, businesses and regulators.

Businesses gain access to infrastructure that simplifies compliance-heavy processes such as identity checks and bank verification, while improving reliability and conversion rates at scale.

Developers and partners benefit from a unified environment where payments and financial data coexist, reducing complexity and accelerating time to market.

Regulators stand to benefit from greater standardisation, stronger data protection and adherence to global security frameworks, including PCI-DSS and ISO 27001.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mono, Abdulhamid Hassan, said the acquisition builds on an existing partnership between the two companies.

“We built Mono to unlock Africa’s open banking potential, and since our first partnership with Flutterwave in 2021 we have seen the power of coordinated effort towards this goal,” Hassan said.

“Mono’s capabilities across financial data access, direct bank payments and identity verification, combined with Flutterwave’s scale and global reach, allow us to build the infrastructure layer that will power the next generation of African fintech.”

The transaction was advised by Nichole Yembra, Founder and Managing Partner at The Chrysalis Advisors Africa, who supported both parties through strategic positioning and execution.

Also read: Flutterwave eyes Egypt’s cross-border payments market as it plans IPO

Industry analysts say the move signals a deliberate shift towards interoperable, data-driven and trust-based financial systems as Africa’s digital economy continues to expand.