# Paystack

> Paystack provides online and in-person payment infrastructure for African businesses, combining locally relevant payment methods with APIs, hosted payment tools, reporting and payouts. Founded in Lagos in 2015, it was acquired by Stripe in 2020 and reported serving more than 300,000 businesses in January 2026, when it announced a proposed restructuring under The Stack Group.

- **Founded:** 2015
- **Headquarters:** Lagos, Nigeria
- **Founders:** Shola Akinlade (Co-founder and CEO; announced continuing group leadership in January 2026), Ezra Olubi (Co-founder and former CTO)
- **Products:** Checkout and payment APIs, Payment Pages, Storefront, Subscriptions, Transfers and payouts
- **Notable:** First Nigerian company accepted into Y Combinator, in November 2015, according to its company history., Stripe reported more than 60,000 Paystack businesses and over half of Nigerian online transactions at the October 2020 acquisition announcement., Company-reported total payment volume grew more than twelvefold after the 2020 acquisition, as of January 2026.

## Products & services

- **Checkout and payment APIs** — Online payment acceptance, with country-dependent card, bank, wallet and mobile-money channels; developer APIs and integrations.
- **Payment Pages** — Hosted links for one-time payments, products and subscriptions.
- **Storefront** — Hosted shops for physical and digital products; no setup or subscription fee, with transaction fees applying to payments.
- **Subscriptions** — Recurring billing through cards and, in Nigeria, Direct Debit; failed subscription charges are not automatically retried.
- **Transfers and payouts** — Money movement to supported bank or mobile-money destinations; availability and fees vary by market.
- **Physical Terminal** — Programmable in-person payment devices, introduced in November 2022.
- **Virtual Terminal** — Hardware-free payment points, with QR payment pages, market-specific payment details and WhatsApp notifications.
- **Zap by Paystack** — Consumer bank-transfer app launched in Nigeria in March 2025; banking services are provided by licensed partners.
- **Canvas Dashboard** — Rebuilt merchant dashboard introduced in May 2026, with an AI-assisted Command Center layered over existing infrastructure.
- **Rebuilt merchant app** — September 2026 update adds in-person collection and passkeys; launch availability for in-person payments covered Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.

## Achievements

- First Nigerian company accepted into Y Combinator, in November 2015, according to its company history.
- Stripe reported more than 60,000 Paystack businesses and over half of Nigerian online transactions at the October 2020 acquisition announcement.
- Company-reported total payment volume grew more than twelvefold after the 2020 acquisition, as of January 2026.
- Announced group-level profitability in January 2026; audited financial statements were not provided with that announcement.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Released a rebuilt merchant app with in-person payments, passkeys and multi-currency views; initial in-person availability was Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.
- **2026-05** — Introduced Canvas, its first complete Dashboard rebuild in ten years.
- **2026-01** — Announced group profitability, more than 300,000 businesses and The Stack Group as a proposed parent with Stripe, Shola Akinlade and employees as founding shareholders, pending regulatory approvals.

## Links

- Website: https://paystack.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/paystack/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/paystack
- GitHub: https://github.com/PaystackOSS
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PaystackHQ
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paystackhq/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaystackHQ

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/paystack
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25