Paystack has taken a decisive step to future-proof its expansion beyond merchant payments, announcing the formation of a new holding company, The Stack Group (TSG), to house its growing portfolio of consumer, banking and venture-led bets across Africa.
The new structure places the Nigerian fintech, its consumer payments app Zap, Paystack Microfinance Bank, and a venture studio under one corporate umbrella, while keeping each business operationally independent.
Unlike a conventional post-acquisition setup, TSG introduces a shared ownership model involving Paystack founder and chief executive Shola Akinlade, global payments giant Stripe, and Paystack employees, known internally as “Stacks”.
The fast-rising Nigerian fintech giant said the move is designed to ring-fence risk as the company expands into sectors with very different regulatory, compliance and distribution demands.
Merchant payments, consumer finance and banking operate under distinct licensing regimes, and the holdco model allows each unit to run its own roadmap without exposing the core payments franchise to unnecessary shocks.
“Payments, banking and consumer products require different governance, different licences and different risk appetites,” the company said in a statement, adding that TSG allows innovation to happen “with speed, but without chaos."
The announcement follows the launch of Paystack Microfinance Bank in Nigeria last week, which operates as a standalone regulated entity.
The bank enables the group to internalise critical financial infrastructure, including banking and credit services, for hundreds of thousands of Nigerian merchants. Zap, meanwhile, represents Paystack’s consumer-facing ambitions in a market where trust, compliance and offline distribution are often harder to crack than payments for businesses.
Holdco structures have become increasingly common among Nigeria’s scaled fintechs, including Moniepoint and Interswitch, as firms seek flexibility to launch, acquire or shut down new ventures while protecting their flagship brands. For Paystack, the challenge is that dominance in merchant payments does not automatically translate into consumer loyalty.
Five years after its $200 million acquisition by Stripe, Paystack says payment volumes have grown more than twelvefold, and the broader group is now profitable and cash-flow positive.
The company is currently licensed and operational in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, with approvals secured for Egypt and Rwanda, markets that together account for roughly 46% of Africa’s GDP.
As African fintechs mature, Paystack’s bet with The Stack Group is that strong governance and structural separation can unlock faster, safer innovation and allow the company to scale well beyond payments without putting its core business at risk.
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