American firm acquires Nigerian start-up, Paystack for $200m
Stripe 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 will 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 approval 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 possesses more than half of all online transactions in Nigeria and has ambitious plans to expand across the continent and recently started a plot with business in South Africa.
“In just five years, Paystack has done what many companies could not achieve in decades. Their tech-first approach, values, ambition, greatly align with our own”, Stripe 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.
“Paystack is a growth engine for modern day business 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.