Stripe appears to have accomplished a new milestone today when it announced the acquisition of Paystack, a startup out of Lagos, Nigeria.
While waiting for further confirmation, the acquisition of Paystack cost over $200 million according to Tech Crunch and Stripe is globally bound, not only to expand its technology pile but its footprint.
Having made much smaller startup acquisitions in the past, this would appear as the biggest and coming from Nigeria.
Stripe has also had an interest in acquiring Paystack for quite some time. Operating in similar fields as Stripe, the startup is a technology company that solves payments related problems for businesses.
Its services include offering payments integration alternatives for online or offline transactions using APIs. With over 60,000 customers, the deal is making room for Paystack to keep operating as an independent company according to Tech Crunch.
Very little is known about the deal, however, it will open doors of investment opportunities for Paystack. It is also an enabling factor in spreading out further in Nigeria as well as other markets.
The CEO Shola Akinlade said there was no intention to sell Paystack when Strip approached them – with co-founder Ezra Olubi. But the change in the decision was motivated by the idea that Stripe will help them accelerate payment service for Africa.
Stripe is a financial and software company valued at $36 billion and operates in America. The company is expanding its services to African and taking a chance on the emerging markets on the continent.
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