Paystack
AcquiredYC W16YC Top CompanyLagos, NG · Founded 2015 · 115 employees · 5 known investors
Paystack provides payment processing services that allow businesses in Africa to accept credit card, debit card, bank transfer, and mobile money transactions through their websites and applications.
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W16)
Paystack was founded in 2015 by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi.
SA
Shola AkinladeinFounder/CEO
EO
Ezra Olubiin𝕏Cofounder and CTOEzra Olubi served as head of technology at Paystack between 2015 and 2025.
OA
Olusola AkinladeNamed on SEC filing
Investors · 5
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$10.2M disclosed across 1 round · 2018
▶$10.2MraisedSep 2018 · 40 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
▶$10.2MraisedSep 2018 · 40 investors · Other Technology
Rule 506(b)Officers, directors & promoters on the filing
- Olusola AkinladeExecutive Officer, Director
- Ezra OlubiExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $10.2M
- Amount sold
- $10.2M
- First sale
- Aug 2018
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2015
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
The YC application· Winter 2016 batch
Y Combinator application advice for African startups - Paystack (Part 1 of 3)
Paystack
Founder mafia
The Paystack mafia →6 people who came through Paystack went on to found or lead other companies.
Competitors · 7
by search overlap
Stripe146 shared keywordsStripe provides financial infrastructure for businesses to accept payments, offer financial services, and implement custom revenue models across international markets in 135+ currencies.
Square90 shared keywordsSquare is a financial services platform that provides point-of-sale systems, payment processing, payroll management, and cash flow tools for small and medium-sized businesses. The platform integrates with hundreds of third-party applications to help merchants manage operations across online and offline channels.
Jetlore79 shared keywordsJetlore was a Palo Alto AI startup that turned unstructured retail product data into structured attributes so merchants could personalise what each shopper saw. Founded by Stanford researchers, it raised from Sierra Ventures, Alsop Louie Partners, Fenox Venture Capital, BRM Capital and Mercury Fund, and PayPal acquired it in 2018.
Checkout62 shared keywordsCheckout.com offers Flow, a hosted payment page that businesses can deploy with a low-code, one-time integration to accept payments online. The page can be customized to match a site's branding for a consistent checkout experience.
Razorpay58 shared keywordsRazorpay provides payment processing APIs and financial services for online merchants, schools, and ecommerce businesses, offering payment acceptance, disbursement, current accounts, and working capital loans. The company serves businesses looking to accept and manage payments online with developer-friendly integration.
Wise47 shared keywordsWise is a financial platform offering international money transfers, multi-currency accounts, and debit cards with low fees and competitive exchange rates, serving millions of users globally.
GoCardless40 shared keywordsGoCardless provides bank payment collection and open banking data access services. The platform enables businesses to collect domestic and international payments via bank accounts and securely access customer bank account data across 2,300+ banks in the UK and Europe.
Companies competing with Paystack for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
In the news
Stripe’s Acquisition Pace Has Accelerated In The Past Five Years, But Nothing Comes Close To Its Reported $53B PayPal Betnews.crunchbase.com · Jul 2026Frequently asked questions
- What does Paystack do?
- Paystack provides payment processing services that allow businesses in Africa to accept credit card, debit card, bank transfer, and mobile money transactions through their websites and applications.
- Who founded Paystack?
- Paystack was founded by Shola Akinlade, Ezra Olubi in 2015.
- Who are Paystack's investors?
- Paystack's investors include Blue Haven Initiative, Ingressive Capital, Y Combinator, Stripe, Ventures Platform.
- How much funding has Paystack raised?
- Paystack has disclosed $10.2M raised across 1 round.
- Where is Paystack headquartered?
- Paystack is headquartered in Lagos, NG.