Paystack has announced the launch of The Stack Group (TSG), a new parent holding company that will bring together its growing portfolio of technology-focused businesses across Africa.
This follows the fintech company’s move into financial services with the acquisition Ladder Microfinance Bank.
The company, in a statement released on Tuesday, said the TSG will aggregate the family of brands connected with Paystack, with founding shareholders including Stripe, Paystack founder and CEO Shola Akinlade, and existing Paystack employees.
Agreements establishing TSG as the parent holding company were signed in October 2025 and are still subject to regulatory approvals.
What they are saying
Paystack said the creation of TSG builds on the recent launch of Paystack Microfinance Bank in Nigeria.
Operating as a standalone bank, the microfinance unit allows the group to internalise key financial infrastructure and provide banking and credit services to its merchant base.
- Under the new structure, The Stack Group will provide a corporate umbrella for several complementary businesses that operate in different areas of financial and technology services, while remaining operationally independent.
- At launch, the group will include Paystack, which focuses on merchant payments; Zap, which operates in consumer payments; Paystack Microfinance Bank, which provides banking services; and TSG Labs, which works on emerging technologies and new product development within and beyond financial technology.
The company said the businesses will be united by shared values and “deep knowledge of building technology products to solve Africa specific challenges.”
Why it matters
The creation of The Stack Group introduces a structure that helps separate Paystack’s different business lines, each of which operates under distinct regulatory and risk requirements.
Payments, banking, and consumer financial products are regulated differently, and housing them under a holding company allows licences, compliance obligations, and risk management to be ring-fenced by business line and geography.
- The move also places Paystack alongside other Nigerian technology companies such as Moniepoint and Interswitch that have adopted holding company structures to reflect their evolution into multi business ecosystems.
- For these firms, the holdco model has provided flexibility to scale existing businesses while creating room to launch, acquire, or discontinue new ventures without exposing core operations to unnecessary risk.
- In the Nigerian fintech landscape, this structure has increasingly been associated with faster expansion, as it enables companies to experiment with new products and markets while preserving the stability of their flagship brands.
What you should know
The announcement comes five years after Paystack was acquired by Stripe in 2020 in a $200 million deal.
Since then, the company said its payment volume has grown twelvefold, alongside an expansion into multiple African markets.
Paystack is currently licensed and operational in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, with regulatory approvals secured for Egypt and Rwanda.
According to the company, these markets together represent about 46% of Africa’s GDP.
