Flutterwave, Africa’s largest payments infrastructure company, has partnered with U.S. private-credit startup Techdollar to let employees borrow against vested shares without selling them. The arrangement gives staff access to cash before a company sale or stock-market listing while preserving their ability to benefit from future gains in the value of their equity.

“We believe they should share in the value they create without having to wait for a major liquidity event,” Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, Flutterwave’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. He described employees as the driving force behind the company’s success, framing the programme as a way to make employee ownership more financially useful.

Cash before an exit

The partnership offers an alternative to selling shares during a funding round or waiting years for an acquisition or initial public offering. Those options remain limited for employees at African startups, where private-company equity can account for a significant portion of compensation but rarely provides immediate access to cash.

Techdollar will offer loans against vested shares for six to 12 months, typically advancing less than half their value. Borrowers retain their equity if they repay the debt, but the lender can seize and sell pledged shares following a qualifying default. Employees therefore gain liquidity without selling upfront, while taking on the risk of losing their holdings.

The cost of borrowing

Interest rates range from 0.80% to 1.5% a month, equivalent to 9.6% to 18% a year on a simple, noncompounded basis. Techdollar’s average starting rate is 16%. If pledged shares lose value during the loan term, borrowers may have to provide additional cash to meet margin requirements.

Loan proceeds will be deposited into accounts employees open with Nuvion, a Miami-based digital bank for businesses that already powers Flutterwave’s stablecoin products. Techdollar says it verifies share ownership through audits and can disburse funds within 24 to 48 hours, using secondary-market data to price loans against private-company equity.

Exits remain elusive

The programme arrives as African startup employees continue to face limited opportunities to cash out their holdings. In 2025, Moniepoint and Arnergy allowed employees to sell portions of their equity during fundraising rounds. In both cases, workers sold shares at discounts to the prices paid by incoming investors.

A report by Stears and Ventures Platform recorded 181 verified venture capital-backed exits across Africa between 2011 and 2026. It also found that a recent increase in exits coincided with a 33% decline in funding and a 36% rise in exits, while fund managers held investments for an average of 6.2 years before selling.

David Tollemache, Techdollar’s co-founder, said traditional lenders had largely focused on founders and executives with substantial holdings, leaving employees with valuable private-company shares with fewer financing options.

Flutterwave builds its offering

Founded in 2016, Flutterwave enables businesses to collect and send payments across 34 African countries. The company has raised more than $500 million from institutional investors and processed more than 1 billion transactions worth over $50 billion, building a payments network that has attracted international investors.

In June, Flutterwave secured an undisclosed investment from U.S. blockchain payments company Ripple at a reported valuation of $3.3 billion, slightly above its $3 billion valuation in February 2022. The company also promoted more than 100 employees that month, representing about 25% of its global workforce, and introduced relief payments and additional tax and cost-of-living support for Nigerian staff.

Techdollar, which lends against private-company equity held by employees, founders and investors, raised $3 million in a pre-seed funding round in June. Its backers included NoLimit Holdings, Reforge VC, Newmichwill, RoyLearner and Ansem.