The fintech firm can now expand its customer base, pushing its valuation up to more than $1 billion.

Flutterwave was founded in 2016 by young Nigerians, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, 29, and Olugbenga Agboola, 35.

Headquartered in San Francisco, the company specialises in individual and consumer transfers.

Flutterwave is one of several fintech groups aiming to facilitate and capitalise on a booming African/Nigerian payments market driven by increased mobile phone use and faster internet speeds, Reuters writes.

Young Nigerians have been applauding the startup's successes, amid a tough operating domestic environment.

“We may consider the possibility of listing in New York or a possible dual listing in New York and Nigeria,” Flutterwave’s CEO and co-founder Agboola told Reuters via telephone.

The firm can now expand its customer base in existing and international markets and develop new products.

“The company’s valuation is now in excess of $1 billion. The fundraise brings the total investment in Flutterwave to $225 million,” Flutterwave said in a statement, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the shift to digital payments in Africa.

The fundraising round was led by Avenir Growth Capital and Tiger Global Management LLC.

“Flutterwave is at the forefront of innovation in payments technology,” said Jamie Reynolds, a partner at Avenir Growth Capital.

“We are excited to support the team as they build the last available payments infrastructure frontier in the world – connecting merchants and consumers intra-Africa and globally.”

Others who backed the funding round include venture capital firms Early Capital Berrywood, Green Visor Capital and Greycroft Capital, as well as U.S. payments company Paypal.

The fundraising comes a year after Flutterwave announced a partnership with Visa and Worldpay, underscoring Silicon Valley's growing interest in Africa's and Nigeria's booming tech ecosystem.

In October of 2020, U.S. payments company Stripe bought Nigerian fintech business Paystack for $200 million.

In 2019, Visa bought a 20% stake in Nigerian payments company Interswitch.

Interswitch is Nigeria's main business-to-business transactions platform.