Lagos-based fintech startup Flutterwave has launched an ecommerce portal for African merchants to transact products online. The startup also has a setup in San Francisco. The portal known as Flutterwave Store is positioned below Amazon and above eBay, media reports said.
Flutterwave Store does not have any inventory or warehouse requirements. The startup leveraged the ongoing pandemic to speed up the online portal’s operations on the back of various restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Last July, the startup collaborated with Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba’s Alipay to push digital payments between Africa and China. Alipay is the largest mobile and online payments platform in the world.
Last year, Flutterwave said in a statement, “Currently, we’ve managed to connect African countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana etc to each other, so it was about time we connected Africa to the world. We started with the U.S already but you can’t connect Africa to the world without China.”
The startup is one of the most prominent and well connected startups in Africa’s fintech ecosystem. It largely aims to provide B2B payments services for those operating in Africa and connect them overseas as well. It is reported that the startup processed 107 million transactions worth $5.4 billion in 2019, based on Flutterwave data.
Flutterwave Store will initially operate in 15 countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, media reports. For now, the only fees it will charge are payments for products sold on the portal and it is free for SMEs seeking to create an online store space for buyers.
Africa is fast-developing market for fintech and ecommence, especially with the accelerated adoption of mobile money.