About Paystack, the African online payment platform we needed
Established in January 2016, Paystack today process nearly 15 percent of all online payments in Africa’s largest economy- Nigeria.
Paystack is a platform that helps businesses in Africa get paid by anyone, anywhere in the world. What it means is, basically, Paystack lets businesses make and accept payments via credit card, debit card, money transfer and mobile money on their websites or mobile apps in just some few steps.
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Customers can pay with local and international cards, or directly from their bank accounts through the interface. Paystack also supports localised payment channels, including mobile money, QR code and USSD payments. Every payment is screened by fraud-monitoring systems to protect merchants from chargebacks, and Paystack’s direct bank integrations ensure high transaction success rates.
Founded in 2015 by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi to facilitate payments between merchants and customers in Naija. Paystack grew to become by 2016 the first startup in Nigeria to enter Y Combinator.
“We started Paystack because we believe that better payments tools are one of the most important things that African businesses need to unlock their explosive potential” says Akinlade.
In no time the company achieved an important milestone, crossing the ₦1 billion threshold in July 2017 which they were very happy to share.
The Journey is quite remarkable when you look closely at what Paystack has achieve in roughly two years.
Paystack grew to process nearly 15 percent of all online payments in Africa’s largest economy - Nigeria.
Nigeria and Africa being a market with broad payment options, Paystack aims at integrating these systems of exchange on their platform to make transactions more easy and simple.
Paystack recently raised $8 million in a Series A round funding (impressive right!) from online payment platform Stripe, credit card giant Visa, Chinese investment company Tencent, accelarator Y Combinator and a couple of investor. The startup till date has raised $10 millions. It intends to get bigger in it’s home market and grow in other African markets beginning with neighboring country Ghana.
