Daily News

Africa’s Payments Giant Flutterwave Considers NGX IPO

Hey Payments Fanatic!

Africa’s highest-valued startup is preparing for the public markets. Flutterwave, founded in 2016 by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Olugbenga Agboola, and Adeleke Adekoya, is in discussions to list on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), a move that could place it among the country’s top-5 most capitalized firms.

Operating across 34 African countries, as well as the U.S. and Canada, Flutterwave provides payment infrastructure for businesses and individuals, processing over 500,000 transactions daily. Backed by investors like Tiger Global and Avenir, the startup has raised $475 million and was last valued at $3 billion.

A successful NGX listing would mark a significant moment for African FinTech, potentially setting a precedent for future IPOs in the sector.

Enjoy more Payments industry updates I listed for you below and I'll be back in you inbox tomorrow!

Cheers,

Marcel

PAYMENTS NEWS

🇬🇧 Merchants focus on functionality, reliability and speed of payment providers, by Ecommpay. A research has found that merchants place more value on the practical elements of a payment provision than on a personal recommendation or even cost. Over half (57%) of merchant respondents selected ‘functionality’ as one of their top three criteria when choosing a payment provider. This was followed by 53% choosing ‘reliability’ and 51% ‘speed’. Half chose ‘cost’, while just 41% rated social proof or recommendation as a deciding factor.

🇬🇧 Ecommpay responds to speculation that the UK Government plans to abolish Payment Systems Regulator. Comment from Willem Wellinghoff, CCO and UK Chair of inclusive payments platform, Ecommpay:

“With the FCA and PSR in the same building, and the PSR being a subsidiary of the FCA, it’s unsurprising that some might think the two organisations could be merged. Whilst there is definitely scope for improvement on how the PSR interacts with the industry, the Bank of England and the FCA, the PR and FCA have fundamentally very different purposes and objectives. And combining the two organisations could potentially negatively impact the FCA, which is already stressed as a regulator."

🌍 ModernTV Group and Solidgate: Revolutionizing online payments for Pay-TV. Through this collaboration, ModernTV Group has leveraged Solidgate’s expertise in payment processing to enhance its checkout experience. Together, the firms are redefining online payment standards, delivering a secure, seamless, and user-friendly experience for IPTV customers across Europe.

🌎 DEUNA and Worldpay have joined forces to make e-commerce operations easier across LATAM. With this integration, businesses can connect with customers worldwide, effortlessly integrate multiple payment methods and leverage Worldpay’s security infrastructure to protect transactions while meeting the highest industry standards.

🇨🇴 Lyra FinTech expands to Central America, the US, and plans growth in Mexico and Ecuador. In 2024, the company successfully extended its presence to new regions, expanding into six Central American countries. Additionally, the firm onboarded its first clients in the US and continues to progress with its strategic expansion in Mexico.

🇨🇳 HEYTEA partners with Adyen to accelerate global expansion. The partnership is expected to accelerate HEYTEA’s development process and overall global expansion. In addition, the deal is expected to bring the company’s products to clients across the regions of the US, the UK, Singapore, and Australia.

🇩🇪 Nexi becomes Wero acquirer, in partnership with Computop. The companies will enable merchants to benefit from the new European digital wallet payment method, first in e-commerce and later in brick-and-mortar retail. Computop provides all technically necessary interfaces to Wero operator EPI.

🇧🇪 Wero is now available at Hello Bank enabling fast and instant transfers. Users can download the app, enter the amount to send, select their contact or input their number, and confirm the transfer with the Digital Key. The recipient will receive the money immediately in their account and be notified via a notification or SMS.

🇦🇺 Nium expands instant payment services to Australia. This enables businesses to process instant cross-border payments to Australian bank accounts and PayIDs. The move taps into Australia’s New Payments Platform, enabling real-time transactions with its infrastructure.

🇧🇭 BBK and JP Morgan boost cross-border payments in Bahrain. The collaboration will leverage JP Morgan’s ‘Xpedite Auto’ solution, which uses AI to improve payment processing, reduce transaction times, and optimize costs for international transactions.

🇬🇧 Payments watchdog could be abolished in PM's purge of regulators. A decision is expected to be taken in principle within weeks, although sources indicated this weekend that the government was "actively considering" a decision to scrap the body.

🇺🇸 Verifone and PopID partner to drive adoption of biometric payments. They partnered to create biometric modules comprised of biometric sensors and software to enable existing Verifone or third-party payment terminals to accept face and palm authentication.

🇶🇦 Yuno expands global footprint with New Middle East HQ in Qatar. This important milestone aligns with Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy, which aims to diversify the economy through the cultivation of innovative sectors such as FinTech.

GOLDEN NUGGET

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? 👇

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?

For any business, accepting payments is a must. Everyone needs to and
yet not every business focuses on optimizing their payment strategy and
stack in general. Payment optimization is a never-ending process.
Perfection may not exist but optimization does.

𝐀𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬

► 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: To optimize payments, businesses must first
establish a robust infrastructure capable of handling high volumes of
transactions reliably and securely. This means using a scalable and
flexible payments platform that supports multiple payment gateways,
Payment Service Providers (PSPs), and processors. Such a setup enables
businesses to dynamically select the best routes for transactions

► 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Streamlining processes such as
reconciliation, settlement, and dispute management is critical. By using
automated tools for transaction management and real-time reporting,
businesses can reduce manual errors, speed up payment processing times,
and reduce costs

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬:

► 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐩: Instead of relying on a single Payment Service
Provider (PSPs), businesses should integrate with multiple PSPs. The key
is to develop a smart routing engine that can switch between these
providers based on availability, transaction success rates, etc...
👉𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤: When primary processor is experiencing downtime,
the system automatically routes transactions to a backup processor.

► 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬: Having redundancy at the infrastructure level
also means leveraging multiple payment rails, not depend on a singular
system. For example:
👉 Card Networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc.)
👉 Bank Transfers (ACH, SEPA, etc.)
👉 Alternative Payment Methods (e-wallets, BNPL options)

► 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 & 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬: Implement robust real-time
monitoring systems to track the performance of each processor and
payment rail based on latency, decline rates, or technical failures.

𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜

Fraud minimization is another important aspect of payment optimization,
and this can be achieved through intelligent routing logic. This
involves:
► 𝐃𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
► 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠
► 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

Start optimizing your payment stack and strategy today, there are
millions / billions at hand.

Source: Solidgate