Flutterwave has denied the report that forms the basis of this story. In a statement to Techpoint Africa, the company said the information circulating is inaccurate, including the reported $250 million figure, and that it is not close to an IPO.
The tweet from the Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Social Media, which was the primary source for this report, has since been deleted. Neither the Presidency nor MoFI has issued a statement explaining the deletion. Technext has reached out to both for comment and will update this story as responses come in. The original report is preserved below.
President Bola Tinubu has approved a $75 million federal government investment in Flutterwave. That is a position, and a deliberate one.To understand what this means, you need to track how we got here. Flutterwave invited the Federal Government to invest $75 million as part of a planned $250 million Initial Public Offer on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, with the investment expected to come through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI).
At the time, Western Post reports that no concrete agreement had been reached, though Flutterwave had already secured institutional investors, some represented on its board, with new external investors also showing interest.
The government was not rushing. The Federal Government engaged two of the four biggest global accounting and auditing firms to conduct a comprehensive review of Flutterwave’s financial statements and operations, wanting to be certain of the company’s valuation, structure, and long-term viability before committing public funds.
That is due diligence at the highest level, and the pace of it tells you how seriously this was taken inside the Presidency.
Now the approval has reportedly come through. And the context around it is thick.
