Paystack Launches The Stack Group as Parent Company

It's Paystack's 10th anniversary, and the company has used the medium to launch an organisational restructure that transformed the company from a single fintech product into a multi-brand technology group called The Stack Group (TSG). This restructuring comes as the company achieved group-wide profitability.

Reaching group profitability gave Paystack the confidence and financial flexibility to restructure and expand beyond its domains. This success is unusual for large fintech firms operating at Paystack’s scale. The company could make this change because it's stable financially and generating surplus.

Paystack was founded in 2016 as a cheaper alternative for Nigerian businesses to accept online payments. After getting support from Y Combinator, the world’s largest startup accelerator, it became one of the most successful African startups. Then, it was acquired by Stripe in 2020 for $200 million. Since then, Paystack has expanded across multiple African markets and grown payment volumes more than 12×.

Notably, Stripe’s acquisition made Paystack a wholly owned subsidiary. But now, TSG introduces a different ownership model: it is owned collectively by Paystack’s co-founder and CEO, Shola Akinlade, Stripe, and current Paystack staff, who are referred to internally as “Stacks”.

Under this ownership model, Akinlade will continue to lead TSG. The new ownership model aims to align the company’s long-term success with the people building and scaling it. The holding company will operate with its own board and allow each subsidiary to maintain leadership appropriate to its size and stage of maturity.

In addition to that, the companies will also benefit from coordinated governance and culture. The Stack Group’s mission is described as “to power African ambition” by nurturing a family of brands, each innovating in different domains.

TSG's Subsidiaries

Organizational Strusture of TSG

The Stack Group (TSG) is now the holding company that houses Paystack, Zap, Paystack Microfinance Bank (MFB), and TSG Labs under one corporate umbrella. Each business can focus on its own market while benefiting from shared heritage and support.

Paystack is a merchant-focused payment gateway, and the company will continue as the core payments platform for businesses. Zap is a consumer payments app targeting peer-to-peer and everyday payment flows. Paystack MFB is a newly acquired microfinance bank rebranded to Paystack MFB to provide banking services, including credit and money movement infrastructure.

TSG Labs is a venture studio focused on emerging technologies like AI and stablecoins, potentially outside traditional fintech boundaries. The Stack Group now combined these companies to power African ambition.

“The beauty of this model is that it rewards the people who are building the company while also maintaining the global backing of one of the leading payments companies through this foundational partnership with Stripe,” said Amandine Lobelle, the chief operating officer of TSG, declining to share the breakdown of the cap table.

Amandine Lobelle is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Paystack’s newly formed parent company, The Stack Group (TSG). She has significant experience in finance and fintech, including roles at IFC and early-career work in investment banking, and she oversees key operational functions at Paystack. On the other hand, Paystack co-founder and CEO Akinlade said, “TSG signals a larger scope of ambition for us and sets the tone for the next decade of our company.”