African payments giant Flutterwave has laid off approximately 30 employees, accounting for about 3% of its workforce.
This move comes three months after the company announced a strategic shift to prioritise its remittance and enterprise services, its primary revenue generators. The new focus led to the discontinuation of Barter in March.
Flutterwave confirmed the layoffs to TechCabal but did not provide details on the specific teams affected.
“After a thorough analysis of our strategic priorities, including a renewed focus on enterprise customers and remittances, we concluded that some roles within the organization are redundant,” Flutterwave stated.
Employees were informed of the layoffs during a town hall meeting on Monday afternoon, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The impacted roles were related to products no longer being pursued by the company.
Flutterwave assured affected employees they would receive an average of three months’ gross salary, depending on their country of employment, along with compensation for any unused accrued leave days.
In October, the fintech firm highlighted that enterprise services were its biggest revenue driver, while retail products contributed minimally to its income.
“Since our founding eight years ago, we have not had to implement a workforce reduction plan, but it became necessary in this instance to align our current resources with our go-forward strategy and improve operational efficiency,” Flutterwave added.
Following a reshuffle of its C-suite executives in 2024, Flutterwave has revived discussions about a potential public listing that had been delayed in 2022 and 2023.
“Right now our goal is to be IPO-ready, ensuring we have the right corporate governance in place and are operating efficiently,” CEO Gbenga Agboola told Semafor in April 2024. “We aim to be a long-term company in Africa, for Africa, and are focused on building the right infrastructure to sustain us for the next decade and beyond.”
