Paystack Becomes Holding Company, Reports Profit & Invests in AI

The Nigerian fintech startup announced the formation of The Stack Group (TSG), a new holding company. The Stack Group (TSG) is a new holding company that Paystack has established as part of its ongoing expansion into banking, consumer finance, and AI-driven product development. The action comes after Paystack achieved group-level profitability and had a twelvefold increase in payment volumes following Stripe’s 2020 acquisition of the company.

Paystack told members of the press that the introduction of TSG is a big step for the business because it has turned a profit.

Paystack is now able to grow into new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and broader financial services in addition to its primary merchant payments business thanks to the restructure.

A collection of separate but complementary companies, such as Paystack, Paystack Microfinance Bank, Zap, and TSG Labs, will be situated beneath the holding company. This recently established venture studio will produce products for the financial services industry as well as other industries.

The group’s establishment agreements were signed in October 2025 and are awaiting regulatory approval.

The launch coincides with Paystack’s tenth anniversary, marking a change from its primary role as a payment processor to developing more comprehensive technological and financial infrastructure for African companies.

Paystack claims that their payment volume has increased more than twelvefold since Stripe acquired it in 2020.

With regulatory permissions pending in Egypt and Rwanda, the company operates and holds licenses in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Together, these markets account for around 46% of Africa’s GDP.

Following Paystack’s recent acquisition of Ladder Microfinance Bank (MFB) to establish Paystack MFB in Nigeria, TSG was established.

Paystack MFB, a stand-alone licensed bank, enables the business to develop banking and credit infrastructure for its more than 300,000 Nigerian merchants while internalising fundamental financial rails. This action facilitates quicker creation of end-to-end money movement products and lessens dependency on partner banks.

TSG offers a consumer payments platform called Zap in addition to its banking and merchant businesses.

Together with the new holding company, Paystack claims that TSG Labs will concentrate on developing new solutions utilising cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence.

Paystack will be able to test AI-driven products without exposing its main financial operations to regulatory risk thanks to the venture studio’s separate operation from the group’s regulated firms.

Stripe, Paystack CEO and founder Shola Akinlade, and current Paystack staff members are among TSG’s original investors and founding shareholders of TSG, which establishes a new ownership structure subject to regulatory approvals. Following its $200 million acquisition of Paystack in 2020, Stripe is still a shareholder, demonstrating its ongoing long-term dedication to the business.

In response to the announcement, Akinlade stated that Paystack’s growing goals outside payments are reflected in the establishment of TSG.

“TSG allows us to address the challenges African companies face over the next ten years, and there are significant opportunities to support businesses beyond payments,” he stated.

With TSG, Paystack is presenting itself as a technology firm that is betting on banking, consumer finance, and artificial intelligence as its future growth engines, in addition to being a payments company.

The key Initiatives under The Stack Group (TSG) are as follows;

• Paystack (Merchant Payments): The original company is still committed to giving more than 300,000 African companies dependable payment processing infrastructure.
• Paystack Microfinance Bank (Paystack MFB): Using Paystack’s vast transaction data to make better credit judgements, this organisation may now retain deposits and provide credit, loans, and banking-as-a-service (BaaS) to merchants after acquiring Ladder Microfinance Bank.
• Zap: The group’s consumer-facing app for quick and dependable person-to-person bank transfers in Nigeria was released in March 2025.
• TSG Labs: This new venture capital firm is charged with creating cutting-edge goods utilising cutting-edge technologies, with stablecoins and artificial intelligence being emphasised as major areas of concentration. The labs can test innovative concepts without subjecting the main financial enterprises to regulatory risk because they operate separately from the regulated entities.

The goal of Paystack’s strategy is to transform from a single-product firm into a diverse technology group in order to address major issues that African businesses face that go beyond simply getting paid. Paystack is positioning itself to become a more complete financial ecosystem supplier throughout Africa by investing in AI and venturing into higher-margin sectors like lending and deposits.