Nigerian startup, Flutterwave has emerged as the most valuable company from Africa according to American seed accelerator, Y Combinator’s (YC) list.
Y Combinator (YC) has released a list of the top 102 most valuable companies that have graduated from the accelerator. On the list, each company is said to be valued at $150 million at least, with all companies having a combined valuation of $155 billion while creating more than 50,000 jobs.
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Flutterwave, a Nigerian fintech startup, which was the only African company that made the list was ranked 97th out of the 102 startups. The startup has raised a total of $20.1 million to date, with the latest known round made in October 2018.
Others which made the list include startups from South America, Europe, Asia and North America which had the largest share of startups on the list.
Why this matters: Although about 34 startups have been accepted into the accelerator, only a handful of them have raised fund seeding or made significant follow-up rounds not to talk of being among YC’s top list. However, this feat achieved by Flutterwave shows that African startups are starting to get their due recognition.
What you should know: Every year, YC invests $120,000 in startups that participate in its programme. The founders of these startups then move to Silicon Valley where they work with YC for three months and participate in the Demo Day to access support, mentoring, and more funding. All these, in exchange for 7% equity.
Since launching in 2005, YC has made over 2,000 investments and, for the first time last year, published a list of its most valuable companies. While most of the companies from the 2018 list made this year’s list, this is the first time an African startup has made the cut.
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About Flutterwave: Flutterwave Inc. is a payment startup founded over a year ago to build underlying payments infrastructure for African businesses to accept a card, mobile money, and bank account payments in a single place. The company was founded by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Olugbenga Agboola.
