Six years after Stripe, Paystack is learning to keep money

In October 2020, Stripe agreed to buy Paystack, a Lagos startup that helped businesses take payments online, for $200 million, the largest acquisition of a Nigerian startup. At the time, Paystack had 60,000 customers.

Stripe said the deal would fund new products and help pull Africa’s scattered payments market together and that Paystack would keep running on its own. Shola Akinlade, its chief executive, promised more countries, more payment channels and more services.

Six years after the acquisition, he has…