The co-founder and CEO of fintech startup Flutterwave, Olugbenga Agboola, has purchased a Miami beach house valued at $7.1 million.
A report by Business Insider Africa, which cited official records, described the property as a six-bedroom, seven-bathroom house. It was previously owned by the Boschetti Group, a real estate development firm that purchased the plot for $1.2 million in 2021 and built the home last year.
Despite being a non-waterfront property, the house commanded a premium price, reflecting the recent trend of skyrocketing demand and prices for South Florida real estate. The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a migration of affluent individuals and families to the area, driving up demand for historically less expensive non-waterfront properties.
Agboola’s track record: The Nigerian-born entrepreneur founded Flutterwave in 2016 to improve the payments infrastructure for banks and global businesses.
- The fintech startup has since raised $474.5 million in funding and achieved a valuation of $3 billion last year. Agboola’s contributions to technological advancement were recognized when he received the Nigerian National Honour Medal of the Officer of the Order of Niger in October 2022.
- Aside from being a fintech engineer and an entrepreneur, he is also a certified ethical hacker, security analyst, and Microsoft system engineer. Olugbenga Agboola also assisted in the growth of a few Fintech companies and financial services like PayPal and Standard Bank.
Tech founders’ lifestyle: Agboola’s new acquisition exemplifies the lavish lifestyles of most successful tech founders across the world. Another case in point is Meta (Facebook) founder, Mark Zuckerberg.
Though always appear simple Zuckerberg enjoys opulence. He reportedly has a property portfolio worth US$320 million and was once rumoured to have bought a jaw-dropping US$150 million yacht called Ulysses, according to TechCrunch.
- In 2014, Zuckerberg bought 286 hectares (707 acres) of land on the island of Kauai in Hawaii for a whopping US$116 million, according to Forbes. The land includes most of Pila’a Beach and Kahu’aina Plantation, prompting critics to slam him for trying to colonise the island and failing to respect its history.
- It didn’t deter Zuckerberg, who, in March 2021, bought nearly 245 hectares (600 acres) of land on Kauai’s North Shore for US$53 million, reported SF Gate, which included a public beach and a working cattle ranch, to add to his luxury estate nicknamed Ko’olau Ranch.
- Six months later, he bought 45 hectares (110 acres) of agricultural land for US$17 million, according to The Guardian. It includes the Ka Loko Reservoir, which remains on the island’s list of high-risk dams.
