Ripple invests in Flutterwave, adds stablecoin to Africa

Ripple, a U.S.-based blockchain payments firm, has made a strategic investment in African fintech giant Flutterwave, valuing the company at $3.2 billion. The deal, announced on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, centers on integrating Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and XRP Ledger network into Flutterwave's payments infrastructure to accelerate cross-border transactions across Africa.

The investment is part of Flutterwave's Series E funding round, with the new capital earmarked to scale the company's stablecoin-enabled payments roadmap. Flutterwave's founder and CEO, Olugbenga Agboola, confirmed Ripple is now an equity shareholder, though the exact investment size was not disclosed. He described the partnership as a synergy where Flutterwave provides its extensive African infrastructure and Ripple contributes expertise in digital settlement and stablecoins.

The technical integration is built on three pillars: embedding RLUSD as a settlement asset within Flutterwave's payment rails and Send App remittance corridors, using the XRP Ledger for faster transaction clearing, and deploying a unified API to connect Flutterwave's domestic network with Ripple Payments. The companies stated the goal is to...