US-based payment technology company Stripe has agreed to acquire Nigerian fintech company Paystack in a bid to accelerate online commerce across the African continent.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Paystack is said to help organizations of all sizes to collect payments from different parts of the world.
The fintech firm caters to more than 60,000 businesses across Nigeria and Ghana, helping them in collecting online and offline payments in a secure manner.
More than half of all online transactions carried out in Nigeria are claimed to be processed by Paystack.
With a goal to increase its footprint across Africa, the Lagos-based fintech company had recently embarked on a pilot with businesses in South Africa.
Stripe alongside Visa, Tencent, and Y Combinator, was part of the $8m Series A funding round of the Nigerian fintech firm in August 2018.
How the acquisition by Stripe will help Paystack
Stripe EMEA business lead Matt Henderson said: “In just five years, Paystack has done what many companies could not achieve in decades. Their tech-first approach, values, and ambition greatly align with our own.
“This acquisition will give Paystack resources to develop new products, support more businesses and consolidate the hyper-fragmented African payments market.”
Despite the acquisition, the Nigerian fintech company will continue to run its business independently, expand its operations in Africa, and expected to add more international payment methods.
In the course of time, its capabilities will be embedded in Stripe’s global payments and treasury network (GPTN), a programmable platform for global money movement that is presently spread over 42 countries.
Paystack CEO and co-founder Shola Akinlade said: “We believe deeply that with the right tools, African creators, developers, and entrepreneurs can do incredible things.
“Leveraging Stripe’s resources and deep expertise, we’re excited to accelerate our geographic expansion and introduce more payment channels, more value-added services, and deeper integrations with global platforms.”
The closing of the deal is subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and meeting of other standard closing conditions.
