Stripe Acquires Nigerian Fintech Company, Paystack, in Deal Reportedly Worth ‘Over $200m’

A fintech company based in the United States, Stripe, is reportedly acquiring Paystack, a Lagos-based startup, in a deal reportedly worth over $200m.

Paystack is a tech company that provides a quick way to integrate payments services into an online or offline transaction by way of an API.

The fintech company currently boasts of around 60,000 customers, including small businesses, larger corporates, educational institutions and online companies.

Fintech, coined from “finance” and “technology”, refers to any business that uses technology to enhance or automate financial services and processes.

Reports said the new plan will be for the company to continue operating independently.

Details of the terms of the deal remain fuzzy Thursday night, but Tech Crunch reports that the deal is “worth over $200 million”.

The new deal, based on the reported value, would be the biggest startup acquisition to date to come out of Nigeria, and Stripe’s biggest acquisition anywhere around the world.

Stripe, valued at $36 billion, had added over 17 countries to its platform in the last 18 months. The company is also looking towards markets across Africa for future growths.

Patrick Collison, Stripe’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said there is an enormous opportunity on the African continent.

He explained that although Africa is smaller than other regions, online commerce will grow about 30 per cent 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,” he said.

In his reaction, Shola Akinlade, chief executive officer (CEO) of Paystack, said the company will be joining Stripe to accelerate online and offline commerce across Africa.

“I am thankful to share that Paystack is joining the Stripe family. We’ll be acquired by Stripe to accelerate online commerce across Africa, pending standard closing conditions including regulatory approvals,” he said.

“Both companies are really, really aligned. I think we are trying to do the same thing. Help people start and scale internet businesses, increase the gross domestic product(GDP) of the internet. And I think about how over the next few years, there are going to be bigger exits because now it can be done.”

Akinlade co-founded the company with Ezra Olubi.