Nigerian fintech startup, Paystack has been acquired by Stripe, a US fintech company that offers similar payment gateways service for companies and businesses.
The exact amount and terms of the deal have not been disclosed but sources close to the deal claim that it is for over $200M. According to reports, Paystack will still continue to operate independently.
Paystack’s acquisition is the biggest startup acquisition to come out of Nigeria
Speaking on the acquisition, Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack revealed that they had no intention of selling the company when Stripe first approached them.
He explained that they decided to accept Stripe’s offer because it would help achieve their mission to accelerate payments across the continent
“Paystack was not for sale when Stripe approached us. For us, it’s about the mission. I’m driven by the mission to accelerate payments on the continent, and I am convinced that Stripe will help us get there faster. It is a very natural move.”
Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack
Paystack currently has around 60,000 customers, including small businesses, larger corporates, fintechs, educational institutions, and online betting companies. It has also released several products and services for e-commerce.
The acquisition will help bolster standing the African market and give them a lot more investment to build out further in Nigeria and expand to other markets.
Suggested read: Paystack Launches ‘Paystack Commerce’ to Help African Businesses Sell Physical and Digital Products Online
Paystack is now Global
Paystack has been on Stripe’s radar for a while, the company has participated in some funding round for Paystack. In 2018, Stripe led an $8 million funding round for Paystack, alongside other big wigs like Visa and Tencent participating.
Earlier this year, another $600 million in funding was invested with the goal of expanding its API-based payments services. The acquisition of Paystack marks it entrance into the African Market.
According to Patrick Collison, the co-founder and CEO of Stripe, the acquisition of Paystack is an enormous opportunity.
He added that he believes the potential of Africa’s e-commerce market “In absolute numbers, Africa may be smaller right now than other regions, but online commerce will grow about 30% every year. And even with wider global declines, online shoppers are growing twice as fast. Stripe thinks on a longer time horizon than others because we are an infrastructure company. We are thinking of what the world will look like in 2040-2050.”
Before now, Stripe has added 17 more countries to its platform in the last 18 months. Its latest investment is in universal checkout service Fast and backing the Philippines-based payment platform PayMongo.
Last year, Paystack was the only African Startup shortlisted in KPMG Global #Fintech100 2019 List
The company is current valued at $36 billion and regularly tipped as an IPO candidate. With its Acquisition, it now has the power of Stripes API and the funds to make a major push for dominance in the African Market.
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