Stripe, an American Firm, is acquiring Paystack, a technology company based in Lagos for $200m.
This alliance will allow the two companies to accelerate online and offline commerce across Africa, Paystack’s Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Shola Akinlade, said in a blog post on Thursday.
The acquisition would allow organisations of all sizes to easily collect payments from around the world, the statement said.
According to the company, the acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals in a statement entitled ‘Stripe will acquire Paystack to accelerate online commerce across Africa’.
The statement described Stripe as a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the Internet.
Paystack currently processes more than half of all online transactions in Nigeria and has ambitious plans to expand across the continent and recently started a pilot with businesses in South Africa.
“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,” Stripe’s business lead in EMEA, Matt Henderson, said.
He added, “This acquisition will give Paystack resources to develop new products, support more businesses and consolidate the hyper-fragmented African payments market.
“We can’t wait to see what they will build next and how their growth can turbocharge the African tech ecosystem.”
Paystack said it would continue to operate independently, growing its operations in Africa and adding more international payment methods.
Over time, Paystack said it’s capabilities would be embedded in Stripe’s Global Payments and Treasury Network, a programmable platform for global money movement that currently spans 42 countries.
“Paystack is a growth engine for modern businesses in Africa, and we couldn’t be more excited to join forces with Stripe, whose mission and values are so aligned with ours, to nurture transformative businesses on the continent,” Paystack CEO said.
“We believe deeply that with the right tools, African creators, developers, and entrepreneurs can do incredible things,” he added.
Akinlade said the company would leverage Stripe’s resources and deep expertise to accelerate its expansion and introduce more payment channels, more value-added services, and deeper integrations with global platforms.
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