About Uber

There’s a high chance you have heard about the company that revolutionized ride-hailing services across the world—Uber (NYSE: UBER).  By enabling convenient and seamless trips for its users and creating opportunities for its drivers, Uber is not just your ride-hailing company; It’s a reimagined world that makes movement happen at the tap of a button. Flutterwave is proud to be supporting seamless payments for Uber in Africa.

The Challenge

Uber launched in Africa in 2013, and expanding across the continent came with its unique set of challenges. Every country in the continent has unique regulatory requirements that must be engaged dynamically; payments lack standardization and are highly fragmented, with each region having dozens of payment methods that do not engage each other. 

This makes having the right B2B payment partner that has a comprehensive regulatory understanding of the continent and the capacity to accept and process payment in local and international payment methods essential for Uber and other large enterprises contemplating expansions into Africa. 

The Solution

After considering and exploring different payment solutions, Flutterwave came into the picture for Uber in 2016 with a promise of making the headache of payment collections go away. After the Flutterwave team pitched the solution to the Uber Team in San Francisco, Uber gave the young startup a chance. 

More than seven years later, the startup has grown to be a leading payment technology company in Africa, supporting Uber to build good regulatory practices that reduce market barriers, promote innovation, and encourage greater payment interoperability. From Nigeria to Kenya, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa, and now Egypt, Uber’s bet on that young startup is paying off. Flutterwave has proven to be the right B2B payment partner that Uber needs.  

Promise Kept

As a company redefining ride-hailing globally, Uber was well-positioned to harness the potential of the African markets. A few years after its first African operation, Uber successfully expanded its operations across Africa and has become second nature to millions of riders, helping them fulfill their day-to-day activities. This is an incredible feat, and Flutterwave is glad to be the payment partner on this journey. With this partnership, 

• Uber riders can pay via international and local methods like cards, Mastercard, Visa, Verve,  Mpesa, and other Mobile Money (MoMo), Bank Transfer, and USSD.
• Uber accepts payments from drivers via local payment methods like Mpesa, USSD, and Bank Transfers, and Uber Drivers can receive payouts via the same methods. 

This partnership is a testament to what is possible if we try, regardless of the misconceptions across the world about doing business in Africa.

Beyond the Promise  Kept: Uber Cash

• In 2020, Uber collaborated with Flutterwave to launch Uber Cash, a digital wallet feature in Sub-Saharan Africa. The feature helps riders top up their Uber wallet using any of the local and international Flutterwave payment methods available in their countries.
• Uber Cash is an incredible initiative–similar to holding physical cash, a common payment method in Africa. All of us at Flutterwave are happy to be instrumental in taking payment localization a notch higher with Uber Cash.  

This feature shows our commitment to supporting businesses of all sizes and other startups to bring their fintech solutions to market in record time via our Fintech as a Service solution. It also shows how flexible and business-friendly our APIs are to adapt to various use cases and create endless possibilities for all. 

Testimonial 

Uber’s Director of Payment Partnerships, Mimi Omokri, said, 

“Payments are central to Uber’s magical experience. We are always working towards providing more financially inclusive solutions for our riders, eaters and drivers on our platform. Flutterwave shares our commitment to customer centricity and our partnership allows us to create payments experiences that combine payments innovation, reduced friction, and cost savings”.

Expand to Africa with Our Payment Rail. Get Started!