In 2020, Stripe acquired Paystack for $200M.
But how did it all begin?
Here’s how two friends with one big idea transformed payments in Africa:
Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi first met as Computer Science students at Babcock University.
They bonded over a shared love of programming. This friendship would later change the face of African fintech.
But first, they’d take separate paths after graduation...
After Babcock, Shola worked in business intelligence at Nigerian Breweries.
But corporate life wasn’t for him, so he co-founded Klein Devort, a software company. There, he spent a decade building tools like Precurio, a workflow platform.
Until one key project at Klein Devort planted the seeds for Paystack.
While working with Access Bank, Shola helped build PayWithCapture:
A payment system using QR codes.
It opened his eyes to the possibilities in online payments. His partner on the project, Olugbenga Agboola, would later found Flutterwave.
Throughout this period, Ezra took a different route.
Building products like SoftPurse and Eyowo, and migrated Jobberman to the cloud, saving it from catastrophic data loss.
By 2014, he was CTO at Delivery Science, but he longed for a new challenge.
The “Aha” moment came in 2015
When Shola realized he could charge cards directly from his computer.
At the time, online payments in Nigeria were:
❌ Expensive
❌ Cumbersome
❌ Stuck in red tape
He pitched the idea of a streamlined solution to Ezra.
Ezra saw Paystack’s potential immediately.
They officially teamed up, combining each other’s strengths.
Their vision was to build the “Stripe of Africa” and make payments seamless for businesses across the continent.
Then they applied to Y Combinator in 2015... and were rejected.
But YC encouraged them to refine their pitch and focus on team dynamics.
In 2016, they reapplied and became the first Nigerian startup accepted into YC.
YC opened doors:
- $120,000 in funding.
- Built credibility within Africa’s tech ecosystem.
- Access to a global network of mentors and investors.
Armed with YC’s backing, Shola and Ezra set out to build the "Stripe of Africa."
They launched publicly with 1,407 live customers processing 200,000+ transactions worth ₦1.1 billion.
Their momentum attracted investors like Tencent, Comcast, and Ventures Platform Fund.
In their first seed round, they raised $1.3M.
2018: Stripe led an $8M Series A round, with Visa and YC joining in.
2020: Stripe acquired Paystack for **$200 million**, the largest tech acquisition in Nigeria’s history.
Why?
Stripe wanted a foothold in Africa, and Paystack was the perfect partner with its strong market presence.
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