Nigerian payments startup Paystack has raised $8m in a series A funding round led by Stripe and backed by Visa.
Tencent and Y Combinator also joined the financing round. Paystack intends to use the funds to expand its presence across Africa, bolster infrastructure and increase its engineering team.
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Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade said: “As Paystack looks to expand rapidly across the continent, we’re thrilled to have the benefit of the deep experience of Stripe, Visa, and Tencent.
“Our ambition is to give African merchants the tools and services they need to go toe-to-toe with the best businesses in the world, and win.”
Global payments, frictionless platform
The start up’s APIs enable merchants build online payment services using a few lines of code. Developers can also create custom checkout experiences and automated recurring billing systems.
Moreover, the APIs also facilitate instant bulk transfers to any bank account in Nigeria and verification of customer identity.
Currently, the firm processes approximately 15% of all online payments in Nigeria. It offers a payments engine for tens of thousands of merchants across the country, irrespective of their size.
In addition, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said: “The Paystack founders are highly technical, fanatically customer oriented, and unrelentingly impatient. We’re excited to back such people in one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.”
