FinTech Startup, Paystack, Raises $8 Million in Series A funding from Visa, Tencent and Stripe to Aid Expansion

Nigerian payment processing company, Paystack, has raised $8 million in Series A funding from global payments giants –Visa, Tencen, and Stripe. This also includes follow-on funding from the likes of Y Combinator, angel investors Tom Stafford (Managing Partner at DST Global), Gbenga Oyebode (founding partner of Aluko & Oyebode and Board member of MTN Nigeria), and Dale Mathias (Co-founder, Innovation Partners Africa).

⚡️ We're excited to announce our $8m Series A, and welcome new investors @stripe and @Visa!https://t.co/s3FqWog1Eo

— Paystack (@paystack) August 28, 2018

This follow up investment for the Lagos-based FinTech startup brings its total investment to date to about $10 million, having raised $1.3 million form both local and foreign investors in 2016 (of which Chinese online giant, Tencent and Y combinator was a part of). This is a remarkable achievement from the young startup of 2 years.

Rapid Growth and Success

In just two years of operation, Paystack has made itself a name to reckon with in the Nigerian payments ecosystem, where its powerful APIs has integrated with tens of thousands of businesses of all sizes (including telcos, airlines, and government agencies) in turn processing about 15% of all online payments in Africa’s largest economy, Finance.

With this funding, Paystack’s plan is to continue to grow in Nigeria, build its payments infrastructure, grow its engineering team as well as expand across the continent, and Ghana is its first site of choice.

Speaking on the reason for their success so far, Shola Akinlade, Co-founder and CEO of Paystack, says it takes a lot of grit to build for African businesses and Paystack seems to be the only one doing this.  “We think of Paystack as an amplifier of the incredible work that African business owners are already doing. With better technology tools, African businesses can be better equipped to play a growing role in the global economy.”

As Paystack looks to expand rapidly across the continent, we’re thrilled to have the benefit of the deep experience of Stripe, Visa, and Tencent. Our ambition is to give African merchants the tools and services they need to go toe-to-toe with the best businesses in the world and win. –Shola Akinlade

Speaking on why they decided to invest in a startup like Paystack, Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe said,“The Paystack founders are highly technical, fanatically customer oriented, and unrelentingly impatient. We are excited to back such people in one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.”

The series of funding/investments received by African startups from foreign investors so far, of which 75% of those funds have gone to the FinTechs, shows the continued growth in the continued growth in the African startup ecosystem. This shows also that although the African economy is still growing, everyone understands the potential of the African market.