Payments app Paystack has been launched in South Africa. The startup, which is based in Nigeria, was acquired by Stripe about half a year ago. Paystack is particularly popular because it serves some high-value clients such as MTN and Bolt.
The launch in South Africa follows a six-month pilot that started after it was acquired by Stripe.
To this end, Paystack is now present in three African states after its native Nigeria and Ghana.
According to the firm’s CEO Shola Akinlade, ‘South Africa is one of the continent’s most important markets, and our launch here is a significant milestone in our mission to accelerate commerce across Africa. We’re excited to continue building the financial infrastructure that empowers ambitious businesses in Africa, helps them scale, and connects them to global markets.’
Furthermore, it has been revealed that the firm’s software and services are being used by more than 60K companies in the continent. It is also the underlying platform that processes more than half the payments in Nigeria.
It had been speculated that Paystack’s next hub would be Kenya because the country is home to many other leading payments firms. Kenya is also one of the leading technology hubs in Africa, having served as the breeding ground for many successful payments startups.
There is a possibility that Paystack’s next station would be in Kenya because rumour has it that its teams are already in the country.
We are not sure how soon the launch would happen.
Paystack would also benefit from a local presence because Kenya is the home of M-PESA whose services have grown beyond local borders, and have proved their superiority in terms of features and ease of use – up to the point that it is the leading moneymaker by Safaricom at KES 82.647 billion in FY2021.
