Paystack, a Nigerian fintech startup that powers businesses with payment API, has announced its official launch in South Africa following its acquisition by fintech giant Stripe in 2020. The launch was preceded by a six-month pilot, indicating that the project was commenced a month after Paystack was acquired by Stripe. Within this six-month trial, the company worked with different businesses and grew a local team to handle its ground operations.
Before acquiring Paystack, Stripe added 17 countries to its platform excluding ones from Africa. The Paystack acquisition was its bid to enter into to the African e-commerce market. According to Patrick Collison, CEO, Stripe, the African market may be smaller right now in contrast to other regions, but e-commerce here is most likely to grow by about 30% every year.
Commenting on the recent expansion, Shola Akinlade, CEO of Paystack, said that South Africa is one of the continent’s most important markets, and their launch is a significant milestone in its mission to boost the region’s commerce sector. Paystack is thrilled to continue expanding its financial infrastructure that endorses ambitious businesses in Africa, helping them connect and scale them to global markets.
Abdulrahman Jogbojogbo, Product Marketer, Paystack, mentioned that the opportunity for innovation in the payment space in South Africa is far from saturated. F or instance, digital payments make up less than half of all transactions in the country, said Mr. Abdulrahman adding that the presence of competition is not only welcomed but also encouraged at the moment. With more innovative players, it would become much faster for them to reach the goal of having an integrated African market.
Khadijah Abu, Paystack’s Head of Product Expansion, said that for many businesses in South Africa, accepting payments online can be cumbersome. Their pilot in South Africa was primarily focused on points like removing barriers to entry, cutting down on tedious paperwork, delivering world-class API documentation to developers, and simplifying it for businesses to accept payments online.
Source Credit: https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/06/paystack-expands-to-south-africa-seven-months-after-stripe-acquisition/