In a defining move for African financial infrastructure, Flutterwave has officially acquired the open-banking powerhouse Mono. The all-stock deal, valued between $25 million and $40 million, was finalized on January 5, 2026, marking a strategic shift toward a data-led, "bank-first" payments ecosystem. Often referred to as the "Plaid of Africa," Mono has built the connective tissue for the continent’s digital economy, powering over 8 million bank account linkages and providing 100 billion data points to lenders. By bringing Mono into its fold, Flutterwave is moving beyond simple payment processing to own the underlying data layer that handles identity verification, credit scoring, and account-to-account (A2A) transfers. This acquisition is a direct bet on the future of African commerce, where high-fee card networks are increasingly bypassed in favor of direct, authenticated bank rails. For businesses, the merger means a "full-stack" experience: faster merchant onboarding, reduced fraud...