TheCable

Flutterwave, a Nigerian digital payment platform, has been named a “Pioneer” on the TIME’s 2021 list of the 100 most influential companies in the world.

The fintech firm is the only African firm listed in the ‘Pioneer” category of the TIME’s inaugural list of companies making extraordinary impact across the world.

Gro Intelligence, an African analytics startup deploying artificial intelligence systems for food security and climate stability solutions, was also listed in the “Innovation” category.

The list was divided into five categories namely: pioneers, leaders, innovation, titans, and disruptors.

Flutterwave and Gro Intelligence joined other global firms such as Sony Group Corporation, Maersk, Samsung, General Motors, Amazon, Pfizer and BioNTech, English Premier League, and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty, to make the list.

TIME reports that Flutterwave was chosen for its efforts in recharging retailers after the pandemic slowed travel in Nigeria.

It said: “When pandemic lockdowns hit brick-and-mortar businesses in Africa, the digital-payment service was able to rapidly set up digital storefronts for 20,000 customers, throwing them a lifeline”.

The report said Olugbenga Agboola, co-founder and CEO of Flutterwave, compares the infrastructure of digital transactions across nations and platforms (think credit cards, debit payments and digital wallets) to plumbing: “you don’t want to think about it, you just want it to work”.

TIME’s quoted Agboola, who named the free campaign as “keeping the lights on.”

In March 2021, Flutterwave raised $170 million from investors, pushing its valuation to over $1 billion.