- Nigerian payments company Paystack has agreed to be acquired by global payments leader Stripe to make online and offline payments easier for African businesses, and enable more global companies to enter the fast-growing region
- Paystack powers payments for thousands of companies of all sizes – including FedEx, UPS, and MTN – and processes over 50% of all online payments in Nigeria, Africa’s largest market
- Stripe is a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet. Millions of businesses in 42 countries are using Stripe to process hundreds of billions of dollars across the globe
Paystack, a leading Nigerian fintech startup has been acquired by Stripe, an American financial services, and software as a service company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.
The deal according to reports is worth more $200 million. This makes it one of the biggest acquisition to come out of Nigeria.
Stripe and Paystack have been working closely together for some time. In 2018, Stripe led Paystack’s Series A financing round and has provided ongoing guidance as to the company rapidly scaled.
“In just five years, Paystack has done what many companies could not achieve in decades. Their tech-first approach, values, and ambition greatly align with our own. This acquisition will give Paystack resources to develop new products, support more businesses and consolidate the hyper-fragmented African payments market,” said Matt Henderson, Stripe’s business lead in EMEA. “We can’t wait to see what they will build next and how their growth can turbocharge the African tech ecosystem.”
Paystack will continue to operate independently, growing their operations in Africa and adding more international payment methods. Over time, Paystack’s capabilities will be embedded in Stripe’s Global Payments and Treasury Network (GPTN), a programmable platform for global money movement that currently spans 42 countries.
“Paystack is a growth engine for modern businesses in Africa, and we couldn’t be more excited to join forces with Stripe, whose mission and values are so aligned with ours, to nurture transformative businesses on the continent,” said Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack.
“We believe deeply that with the right tools, African creators, developers, and entrepreneurs can do incredible things. Leveraging Stripe’s resources and deep expertise, we’re excited to accelerate our geographic expansion and introduce more payment channels, more value-added services, and deeper integrations with global platforms.”
The acquisition is subject to standard closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
