Flutterwave, a leading African fintech startup, has announced a partnership with IndusInd Bank, one of India’s largest banks, to enable seamless and quick remittances from India to Africa. The partnership will allow Flutterwave, which is valued at $3 billion, to expand its remittance product, Send App, into India, the world’s fifth-largest economy and the largest source of remittances globally. Send App allows users to send money across borders using various payment methods, including bank transfers, cards, mobile money and USSD.
According to Olugbenga Agboola, the co-founder and CEO of Flutterwave, the partnership will make Flutterwave the first African company to offer remittance services from India to Africa at scale. Agboola is currently in India with Nigeria’s tech minister, Bosun Tijani, and President Bola Tinubu ahead of the upcoming G20 summit.
“We are excited to partner with IndusInd Bank, which has approximately 35 million customers across the country, including individuals, large corporations and various government entities,” Agboola said in a statement. “We are a partnership-driven organization. So as we see more bank partners to work with in India, we’ll definitely embrace that.”
Flutterwave, founded in 2016 and based in Lagos and San Francisco, facilitates cross-border payments for businesses in Africa and beyond. The startup has raised $250 million from investors such as Tiger Global Management and Y Combinator and works with companies such as Alibaba’s Alipay, Uber and Netflix.
The startup has also secured an agreement with French company Capgemini, an IT service management company that will help strengthen its engineering infrastructure.
Flutterwave’s expansion into India comes amid its plans to go public in the US within the next two years. The startup has also recently expanded into Egypt and Rwanda and obtained a money remittance license in Kenya.
The partnership with IndusInd Bank is expected to boost trade and economic ties between India and Africa, which have been growing steadily over the years. According to the African Development Bank, India-Africa trade reached $67.7 billion in 2019, up from $51.7 billion in 2010.
The partnership also aligns with Flutterwave’s vision of simplifying payments for endless possibilities and creating a more connected and prosperous Africa.
News Source: Bloomberg
