Stripe acquires Nigerian start-up Paystack in $200m deal
US payments firm, Stripe, is acquiring Nigerian start-up, Paystack, as part of an ongoing merger and acquisitions (M&A) strategy.
Paystack has 60,000 customers across Nigeria and Ghana
According to TechCrunch, Stripe has paid a reported $200 million for Lagos-based Paystack. The fee is a record for a Nigerian start-up.
Paystack has around 60,000 business customers in Nigeria and Ghana. The company allows clients to collect online and offline payments. The start-up claims to process more than half of all online transactions in Nigeria.
This isn’t the first interaction between the two companies. Stripe led Paystack’s Series A funding round in 2018. The US firm says it has provided “ongoing guidance” since.
Paystack will continue to operate independently, growing operations in Africa and adding more international payment methods.
Eventually the firm’s capabilities will be embedded in Stripe’s Global Payments and Treasury Network (GPTN).
“We believe deeply that with the right tools, African creators, developers, and entrepreneurs can do incredible things,” says Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack.
“We’re excited to accelerate our geographic expansion and introduce more payment channels, more value-added services, and deeper integrations with global platforms.”
Matt Henderson, Stripe’s business lead in EMEA, says Paystack has “done in five years what many companies could not achieve in decades”.
He adds: “This acquisition will give Paystack resources to develop new products, support more businesses and consolidate the hyper-fragmented African payments market.”
