You’ve probably seen this news all over Twitter but we’re still going to report it because THIS IS HUGGGGEEEEE. The Paystack acquisition is not just awesome news for the Fintech company founders and investors but Nigeria at large. The $200m acquisition is Nigeria’s biggest so far and shows just what the future holds in store for our Tech ecosystem.
The news of Paystack’s acquisition by Stripe; a US-based financial services and software company, hit the internet yesterday, 15th October.
First of all, a big congratulations to Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, founders of Paystack (a tech company made to help solve payment problems for businesses.)
Paystack was launched in January 2016 and in just 5 years has grown to become one of Africa’s most successful startups.
“Paystack has done what many companies could not achieve in decades. Their tech-first approach, values, and ambition greatly align with our own,” Matt Henderson, Stripe’s business lead in EMEA.
Although the details of the acquisition have not yet been disclosed to the public, reports say it could be worth well over $200m.
“Five years ago, we set out with an audacious goal to build a “Stripe for Africa” and we literally became Stripe, for Africa!” Co-founder Ezra Olubi.
The vision Paystack’s co-founders had for the company was to develop a Stripe for Africa.
Today the payments company processes about 50% of all web payments in Nigeria, enabling fluid unproblematic payments for over 60,000 companies and businesses.
With this acquisition, Stripe now has a solid springboard to jump into the African market.
