Stripe, Flutterwave Reacts As Rival, Paystack, Get Acquired

Nigerian payment gateway, Paystack, got acquired by United State-based company, Stripe, after sealing what industry players tag as a landmark deal. AllNews gathered that Paystack will join Stripe to accelerate online and offline commerce across Africa.

The company which was founded by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi five years ago to offer services like Stripe in Africa, was acquired for $200 million, but "Paystack will continue to operate independently, and there will be no disruption of service as a result of this acquisition." AllNews gathered.

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The Paystack and Stripe deal, however, is still "pending standard closing conditions including regulatory approvals." Since it started operation in 2015, Paystack offers various payment tools to over 60,000 businesses of all sizes, including FedEx, UPS, MTN, the Lagos Internal Revenue Service, and AXA Mansard.

In a statement by Akinlade, he said, "Merchants already use our technology to process hundreds of millions of dollars each month, and joining forces with Stripe will supercharge our ability to serve our community of makers and help more businesses across the continent."

Reactions To Stripe/Paystack Deal

The Chief Executive Officer of Stripe, Patrick Collison, "I couldn’t be more delighted that @Paystack will be joining us at @Stripe. The African tech ecosystem is expanding very rapidly. We and the Paystack team are eager to invest in a big way over the years to come."

The announcement of the deal has drawn massive reactions from the Nigerian tech space, including Paystack's Nigerian river, Flutterwave, "Congrats to the @paystack team, this is amazing, and a great step for the Fintech Community in Africa! Onwards & Upwards."

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Ayo Bankole, Strategy Expert, said, "Young Nigerian youths with no govt patronage started a company from ground zero into a $200m company that put Nigeria on the world map-in a few years. All they needed were laptops. Laptops that SARS shoots them for. Paystack did what our Ministers need 20bn budget to do. #EndSWAT"

IrokoTV founder, Jason Njoku, said, "The deal of the decade. @shollsman @0x have just crystallized what Nigerian technology can do. I couldn't be more happier for the entire team. @paystack is a very very special company."