Nigeria, 15th Oct 2020: US-based online paymnet firm Stripe acquire Nigeria based payments firm Paystack for more than $200 million to enter into africa region.
Earlier in 2018, Stripe invested $8 million in a Series A funding round for Paystack. With this acquisition Stripe will control more than half of online payments in Nigeria.
Also, Paystack has already started a pilot with businesses in South Africa.
Like Stripe, Paystack is a technology company powering growth for businesses in Africa through the API process in the payment system.
More than 60,000 businesses in Nigeria and Ghana use Paystack to collect online and offline payments. The team has developed APIs enabling developers to create online custom checkout experiences, build automated recurring billing systems, instantly send bulk transfers to any bank account in Nigeria, and verify the identity of customers.
Paystack will continue to operate independently. Over time, its capabilities will be embedded in Stripe’s programmable platform for the global money movement that currently spans 42 countries.
Matt Henderson, business lead, Emea, Stripe, says, “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.”
Shola Akinlade, CEO, Paystack, adds, “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.”
Stripe is a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet. Companies of all sizes including Amazon, Google, Shopify, and Zoom use Stripe’s software to accept payments and scale their online businesses. Each year, more than 80% of American adults complete a purchase using Stripe.