Unicorn in Nigeria: Flutterwave is now valued at $1 billion after raising $170 million in a Series C funding round.

Flutterwave, African-focused payments company announced, earlier today, that it has closed a $170 million Series C funding round, valuing the company over $1 billion. This new funding will be used to speed up customer acquisition in its present markets. It will also improve existing product offerings like Barter, where it has over 500,000 users, and introduce new offerings.

The funding round was led by New York-based private investment firm Avenir Growth Capital and U.S. hedge fund and investment firm Tiger Global. There were over 9 leading group of international investors (venture capitalists) participating in the funding round. The round was initiated with the aim of raising enough funds to expand its customer base in existing and international markets.

Launched in 2016 by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Olugbenga GB Agboola as a Nigerian and U.S.-based payments company with offices in Lagos and San Francisco, Flutterwave helps businesses build customizable payments applications through its APIs. Basically, they help businesses build easy payments applications.

Just Last year, the company closed a $35 million Series B and had processed 107 million transactions worth $5.4 billion. These numbers have increased impressively since then as the company now process over 140 million transactions worth more than $9 billion with an impressive clientele of international companies, including Booking.com, Uber, Facebook and Flywire.

Flutterwave noted that more than 290,000 businesses use its platform to carry out payments and they can do so in 150 currencies and multiple payment modes including local and international cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers, Barter by Flutterwave.

Just so you know, this is coming just a few months after it was listed as Ycombinators’ most valuable startup in Africa. Also, Flutterwave joins Interswitch as the only fintech in Nigeria to reach a 1-billion-dollar valuation in less than 10 years making it a Unicorn Startup.

To show you the growth trajectory of this innovative company, the CEO said, in a statement made to Reuters, that Flutterwave may consider listing in New York or possible dual listing in New York and Nigeria Stock Exchange.

What you should know

• A series C round is the fourth stage of startup financing, and typically the last stage of venture capital financing.
• A unicorn startup is a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion.