Fintech founder buys non-waterfront Miami Beach spec home

UPDATED, March 7, 5:50 p.m.

The co-founder and CEO of unicorn fintech startup Flutterwave bought a non-waterfront spec home in Miami Beach for $7.1 million.

Records show Olugbenga Agboola bought the house on Nautilus Drive from an LLC named for the address and managed by Jose R. Boschetti, Jr.

Boschetti is vice president of his family’s real estate development firm, Boschetti Group, which is based in Coral Gables. Maurice Boschetti, head of acquisitions for the firm and a broker with Boschetti Realty Group, had the listing.

Jason Angrist of Compass brought the buyer.

Agboola is the founder and CEO of Flutterwave, a fintech company that specializes in payments infrastructure for banks and global businesses. Based in San Francisco and founded in 2016, Flutterwave has raised $474.5 million in funding so far. Flutterwave’s valuation reached $3 billion last year, according to multiple outlets.

The Nigerian-born Agboola was honored in October with the Nigerian National Honour Medal of the Officer of the Order of Niger by President Muhammadu Buhari for his contributions to technological advancement.

Last month, hackers stole more than $4 million from Flutterwave accounts in Nigeria, Business Insider Africa reported. Flutterwave filed a motion to freeze accounts involved in the attack. After publication, a spokesperson for Flutterwave said in a statement that the firm was not hacked, and that a routine check of the firm’s transaction monitoring system revealed an unusual trend of transactions on some users’ profiles, and those that did not have two-factor authentication might have been exposed. Its policy is to hold the transactions and notify law enforcement.

Boschetti Group, which develops spec homes as well as commercial and multifamily projects, bought the Nautilus Drive property for $1.2 million in 2021, records show. Boschetti built a nearly 5,200-square-foot, six-bedroom, seven-bathroom house on the 0.2-acre plot, completing construction last year, according to property records. The non-waterfront home also includes a pool.

Pandemic-fueled migration and a subsequent real estate gold rush has driven demand and price surges for properties across South Florida, including for historically less expensive non-waterfront properties. 

Non-waterfront homes started regularly selling for unheard-of prices in late 2021, with a Sunset Islands home setting the Miami Beach non-waterfront price record of $12.5 million in April of last year. 

Agboola isn’t the only tech founder to opt for Miami Beach’s non-waterfront luxury real estate in recent months. Steve Walbroehl, co-founder of blockchain security startup Halborn, bought a home for $8.6 million in October, setting a price record for non-waterfront properties in Miami Beach’s Lakeview neighborhood. 

That same month, retail heir and entrepreneur David Deshe sold his non-waterfront home on North Bay Road for $8.4 million.