Roqqu Buys Kenya’s Flitaa as Nigerian Startups Eye East Africa

Nigerian cryptocurrency company Roqqu buys Kenya’s Flitaa, a move that signals a new wave of Nigerian startups eyeing East Africa for business growth. This acquisition is a big step for Roqqu, as it marks the company’s first entrance into the East African market and shows how Nigerian tech firms are expanding across the continent.

Flitaa, the company Roqqu just bought, is a crypto startup based in Kenya but also operates in Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania. Flitaa was founded in 2019 and has become popular for making it easy for people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. The company’s simple approach to crypto transactions has helped it build a loyal customer base in these countries. Now, with Roqqu buying Flitaa, all of Flitaa’s operations will be merged into Roqqu’s platform, giving Roqqu a ready-made network of users and technology in East Africa.

The exact price of the deal has not been made public, but Roqqu says this acquisition will help it achieve its dream of becoming a pan-African crypto platform. Roqqu has been running since 2019 and, impressively, has done so without raising money from outside investors. This shows the company’s strong business model and determination to grow using its own resources.

Roqqu also claims it has received regulatory approval to operate in Kenya, which is important because every country has its own rules for financial and crypto companies. However, at the time of the announcement, these regulatory details had not been independently confirmed. Even so, Roqqu’s move is seen as a way to skip some of the usual challenges that foreign companies face when trying to enter new markets, like getting licenses and building a customer base from scratch.

This deal is not just about one company. It’s part of a bigger trend: Nigerian startups eye East Africa as a promising place to do business. Nigeria’s own fintech industry is becoming crowded and competitive, so many companies are looking for new markets where they can grow. East Africa, with its friendly rules for fintech companies and widespread use of mobile money, is especially attractive. In Kenya, for example, mobile payments are a normal part of daily life, making it easier for new digital financial services to catch on.

Other Nigerian startups are also making moves in East Africa. In June 2025, Fincra, a payment infrastructure company, got a license from the Bank of Tanzania, its third approval in the region. Grey, a Nigerian company that helps people send money across borders, set up its East African headquarters in Kenya after raising new funds. Investment platform Risevest is also looking at buying local companies as a way to enter the Kenyan market.

But expanding into new regions is not always easy. Different countries have different rules, and customers in each place may have their own habits and preferences. By buying Flitaa, Roqqu hopes to avoid some of these early problems by using Flitaa’s existing systems and customer relationships.

This development comes at a time when funding for African startups is getting tighter. In March 2025, total startup funding in Africa dropped to just $50 million, the lowest in years. Still, Nigeria and Kenya together made up nearly half of that amount, showing how important these countries are to Africa’s tech scene.

As money becomes harder to get, more startups are joining forces or buying each other to survive and grow. Roqqu buying Flitaa is a clear example of this new trend, with Nigerian startups eyeing East Africa as the next big opportunity for expansion and innovation.

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