Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass, replaces CEO https://www.merchant-business.com/paystack-led-consortium-acquires-brass-replaces-ceo/?feed_id=4681&_unique_id=665789522e99c Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass, replaces CEO Business Two months later raised Bridge loans To solve its working capital challenges, Nigerian business banking startup Brass has been acquired by a consortium of investors led by payments giant Paystack, culminating talks that began in early 2024. Other investors include PiggyVest, Ventures Platform and P1 Ventures, among others. A person familiar with the discussions said the venture capital firm Venture Platform was facilitating the talks and was confident the deal would go through. Venture Platform also understood it needed to bring in experienced operators. This pragmatism drove the venture capital firm’s strategic alliance with the consortium’s startups. “We are excited to act as the new stewards of Brass’ mission to empower Africans to start their own businesses and make them smoother and more successful,” the investors told TechCabal in an email. Co-founder and CEO Sola Akindole and co-founder and CTO Emmanuel Okeke are leaving the company. Head of product Tolulope Saba is also leaving and will be replaced by new, as yet undisclosed, executive leadership. All other Brass employees will retain their jobs, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Brass co-founders Emmanuel Okeke (left) and Sola Akindole (right) are leaving the company. There will be no change for customers either, with the product remaining largely the same and investors promising “further investment in improving products and services.” The acquisition ends months of uncertainty surrounding Brass’ future since delays in processing customer withdrawals began in October 2023. Those delays continued for several months, raising concerns about liquidity and leading to rumors of a closure. Several key players in the ecosystem have rallied around the company, urging the closure of deposit-taking fintechs. Bank Runs Concerns about other fintechs. Acquisition rumors began to circulate, with the idea that an acquisition by a more credible, larger fintech company would allay these concerns. Early talks had linked Moniepoint, Paystack and Flutterwave. As acquisition talks continued, Brass turned to investors for debt financing to stay afloat. One early investor, who declined to participate in bridge financing, claimed Brass was looking to raise $300,000 to $500,000 in convertible notes. The same investor said the business banking startup had kept its financial information secret from investors during its fundraising efforts. It’s unclear how much Brass ultimately raised. Still, the new owners will inherit Brass’ assets and liabilities, some of which remain in big doubt. Two people familiar with the company’s finances claim that Brass had a 2 billion naira hole in its balance sheet. The same people said the company’s management had failed to account for how it spent the money. “Like many companies, Brass has faced headwinds in recent months due to a challenging operating environment,” the investors said in response to questions about the debt. “With a healthy investment of new capital, Brass is in an excellent position to deliver a world-class financial operations stack to African businesses.” Business Get Africa’s best tech newsletter delivered to your inbox Source of this program “My funny little brother says this plugin is elegant.” “Brass founder and CEO Sola Akindolu and CTO Emmanuel Okeke are leaving the company and will be replaced by a new leadership team…” Source: Read more Source link: https://techcabal.com/2024/05/28/paystack-leads-investors-in-brass-acquisition/ The post Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass, replaces CEO appeared first on Merchant Business News. Buy, Sell, Get Informed, Negotiate and Be Happy! Business, Global

Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass, replaces CEO https://www.merchant-business.com/paystack-led-consortium-acquires-brass-replaces-ceo/?feed_id=4679&_unique_id=6657895119175 Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass, replaces CEO Business Two months later raised Bridge loans To solve its working capital challenges, Nigerian business banking startup Brass has been acquired by a consortium of investors led by payments giant Paystack, culminating talks that began in early 2024. Other investors include PiggyVest, Ventures Platform and P1 Ventures, among others. A person familiar with the discussions said the venture capital firm Venture Platform was facilitating the talks and was confident the deal would go through. Venture Platform also understood it needed to bring in experienced operators. This pragmatism drove the venture capital firm’s strategic alliance with the consortium’s startups. “We are excited to act as the new stewards of Brass’ mission to empower Africans to start their own businesses and make them smoother and more successful,” the investors told TechCabal in an email. Co-founder and CEO Sola Akindole and co-founder and CTO Emmanuel Okeke are leaving the company. Head of product Tolulope Saba is also leaving and will be replaced by new, as yet undisclosed, executive leadership. All other Brass employees will retain their jobs, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Brass co-founders Emmanuel Okeke (left) and Sola Akindole (right) are leaving the company. There will be no change for customers either, with the product remaining largely the same and investors promising “further investment in improving products and services.” The acquisition ends months of uncertainty surrounding Brass’ future since delays in processing customer withdrawals began in October 2023. Those delays continued for several months, raising concerns about liquidity and leading to rumors of a closure. Several key players in the ecosystem have rallied around the company, urging the closure of deposit-taking fintechs. Bank Runs Concerns about other fintechs. Acquisition rumors began to circulate, with the idea that an acquisition by a more credible, larger fintech company would allay these concerns. Early talks had linked Moniepoint, Paystack and Flutterwave. As acquisition talks continued, Brass turned to investors for debt financing to stay afloat. One early investor, who declined to participate in bridge financing, claimed Brass was looking to raise $300,000 to $500,000 in convertible notes. The same investor said the business banking startup had kept its financial information secret from investors during its fundraising efforts. It’s unclear how much Brass ultimately raised. Still, the new owners will inherit Brass’ assets and liabilities, some of which remain in big doubt. Two people familiar with the company’s finances claim that Brass had a 2 billion naira hole in its balance sheet. The same people said the company’s management had failed to account for how it spent the money. “Like many companies, Brass has faced headwinds in recent months due to a challenging operating environment,” the investors said in response to questions about the debt. “With a healthy investment of new capital, Brass is in an excellent position to deliver a world-class financial operations stack to African businesses.” Business Get Africa’s best tech newsletter delivered to your inbox Source of this program “My funny little brother says this plugin is elegant.” “Brass founder and CEO Sola Akindolu and CTO Emmanuel Okeke are leaving the company and will be replaced by a new leadership team…” Source: Read more Source link: https://techcabal.com/2024/05/28/paystack-leads-investors-in-brass-acquisition/ The post Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass, replaces CEO appeared first on Merchant Business News. Buy, Sell, Get Informed, Negotiate and Be Happy!

Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass, replaces CEO - #Business #Global https://www.merchant-business.com/paystack-led-consortium-acquires-brass-replaces-ceo/?feed_id=4680&_unique_id=665789519e5da Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass, replaces CEO Business Two months later raised Bridge loans To solve its working capital challenges, Nigerian business banking startup Brass has been acquired by a consortium of investors led by payments giant Paystack, culminating talks that began in early 2024. Other investors include PiggyVest, Ventures Platform and P1 Ventures, among others. A person familiar with the discussions said the venture capital firm Venture Platform was facilitating the talks and was confident the deal would go through. Venture Platform also understood it needed to bring in experienced operators. This pragmatism drove the venture capital firm’s strategic alliance with the consortium’s startups. “We are excited to act as the new stewards of Brass’ mission to empower Africans to start their own businesses and make them smoother and more successful,” the investors told TechCabal in an email. Co-founder and CEO Sola Akindole and co-founder and CTO Emmanuel Okeke are leaving the company. Head of product Tolulope Saba is also leaving and will be replaced by new, as yet undisclosed, executive leadership. All other Brass employees will retain their jobs, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Brass co-founders Emmanuel Okeke (left) and Sola Akindole (right) are leaving the company. There will be no change for customers either, with the product remaining largely the same and investors promising “further investment in improving products and services.” The acquisition ends months of uncertainty surrounding Brass’ future since delays in processing customer withdrawals began in October 2023. Those delays continued for several months, raising concerns about liquidity and leading to rumors of a closure. Several key players in the ecosystem have rallied around the company, urging the closure of deposit-taking fintechs. Bank Runs Concerns about other fintechs. Acquisition rumors began to circulate, with the idea that an acquisition by a more credible, larger fintech company would allay these concerns. Early talks had linked Moniepoint, Paystack and Flutterwave. As acquisition talks continued, Brass turned to investors for debt financing to stay afloat. One early investor, who declined to participate in bridge financing, claimed Brass was looking to raise $300,000 to $500,000 in convertible notes. The same investor said the business banking startup had kept its financial information secret from investors during its fundraising efforts. It’s unclear how much Brass ultimately raised. Still, the new owners will inherit Brass’ assets and liabilities, some of which remain in big doubt. Two people familiar with the company’s finances claim that Brass had a 2 billion naira hole in its balance sheet. The same people said the company’s management had failed to account for how it spent the money. “Like many companies, Brass has faced headwinds in recent months due to a challenging operating environment,” the investors said in response to questions about the debt. “With a healthy investment of new capital, Brass is in an excellent position to deliver a world-class financial operations stack to African businesses.” Business Get Africa’s best tech newsletter delivered to your inbox Source of this program “My funny little brother says this plugin is elegant.” “Brass founder and CEO Sola Akindolu and CTO Emmanuel Okeke are leaving the company and will be replaced by a new leadership team…” Source: Read more Source link: https://techcabal.com/2024/05/28/paystack-leads-investors-in-brass-acquisition/ The post Paystack-led consortium acquires Brass, replaces CEO appeared first on Merchant Business News. Buy, Sell, Get Informed, Negotiate and Be Happy! Business, Global BLOGGER - #Business #Global

Sign Up for Paystack Payment Integration Account - Create Paystack Getway for Free

Sign Up for Paystack Payment Integration Account – Create Paystack Getway for Free

Have you been looking for the best payment platform or gateway account to assist in making payment on your business platform easy and stress-free with just a click away? If Yes, then Paystack is best for you, it will give you and your customer the best of experience in the business. Continue reading

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Meet Shola Akinlade, The CEO Of Paystack. #paystack #sholaakinlade @paystackhq #ceo #paymentgateway #onlinepayment #youngceo #tech #naijacelebrity #edesonbusinessnews #edesontechnews ......... Paystack was founded in 2015 by CEO Shola Akinlade and CTO Ezra Olubi. The startup, which has offices in both Lagos and San Francisco, enables Nigerian businesses to accept Mastercard, Visa and Verve cards. Paystack, a Stripe-like startup out of Lagos that provides online payment facilities to merchants and others by way of an API and a few lines of code. Paystack is an online payment gateway that makes it easy for merchants to accept credit and debit card payments online from users or customers. His first stab was another “clone” of sorts: it was an emerging market version of Dropbox called Precurio, which grew to have over 200,000 customers. Some of those were Nigerian banks, who started to reach out to ask if Akinlade could help them with software projects. In doing so, he spotted a big gap in the market to build a startup around e-commerce payments covering multiple banks and multiple other players in the payments chain. “I quickly realised that payments here were not the same as in the US and UK,” he said. Building a product that knits together a number of disparate services those relationships is not only more challenging for those less familiar with the landscape, but potentially something that they are less interested in doing on their own when the market remains still relatively small. Akinlade said that the total amount processed monthly at Paystack is now at over $20 million — which in larger global terms is still a very small amount of money, and even less so when you consider that what Paystack makes on those transactions is just 1.5 percent. In 2016, Paystack became the first startup from Nigeria to enter Y Combinator, and the incubator is doing some follow-on investing in this round. Other strategic investors in this Series A include Visa and the Chinese online giant Tencent, parent of WeChat and a plethora of other services. (Tencent also invested in Paystack’s previous round: the (at Lagos, Nigeria) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_njYZ4D6ce/?igshid=ucya46s850rk

Earnipay raises $4M to help employees in Nigeria get faster access to their salaries

Earnipay raises $4M to help employees in Nigeria get faster access to their salaries

Earnipay, a fintech that provides flexible and on-demand salary access to income-earners, has raised $4 million in seed financing led by early-stage venture capital firm Canaan. Participating investors include XYZ Ventures, Village Global, Musha Ventures, Voltron Capital, Ventures Platform and Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade. Earnipay, which has been in beta since September 2021 and only launched…

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Earnipay raises $4M to help employees in Nigeria get faster access to their salaries

Earnipay raises $4M to help employees in Nigeria get faster access to their salaries

Earnipay, a fintech that provides flexible and on-demand salary access to income-earners, has raised $4 million in seed financing led by early-stage venture capital firm Canaan. Participating investors include XYZ Ventures, Village Global, Musha Ventures, Voltron Capital, Ventures Platform and Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade. Earnipay, which has been in beta since September 2021 and only launched…

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HURRAY!!! They approved my freelance business today 👍 @daystardigitals. You may now easily pay for our online services anywhere in the world with Paystack. . . . Please Follow me --> @freelancer.sean and @daystardigitals . . #socialmediamarketing #socialmedia #marketing #digitalmarketing #entrepreneur #business #socialmediatips #contentmarketing #smallbusiness #onlinemarketing #branding #girlboss #marketingtips #socialmediastrategy #womeninbusiness #entrepreneurship #motivation #daystardigitals smm #marketingstrategy #ceo #entrepreneurlife #marketingdigital #socialmediamanager startup #advertising #femaleentrepreneur #businessowner socialmediaagency #quotes #dailymemes #freelancer #followme (at Ibadan, Nigeria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCrHkB0Ft9v/?igshid=1ikxymcsnhe50

SF based African fintech startup Chipper Cash expands to Nigeria

SF based African fintech startup Chipper Cash expands to Nigeria

The African no-fee, cross-border payment startup Chipper Cashhas expanded to Nigeria.

The San Francisco based startup, with offices in Ghana andKenya,will offer itsP2Ppayment service and app in Africa’s most populous nation in partnership withPayStack—the payment gateway company. Paystack CEOShola Akinladeconfirmed the collaboration.

Chipper Cash will establishe a company presence in Lagos…

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SF based African fintech startup Chipper Cash expands to Nigeria

SF based African fintech startup Chipper Cash expands to Nigeria

The African no-fee, cross-border payment startup Chipper Cash has expanded to Nigeria.

The San Francisco based startup, with offices in Ghana and Kenya, will offer its P2P payment service and app in Africa’s most populous nation in partnership with PayStack—the payment gateway company. Paystack CEO Shola Akinlade confirmed the collaboration.

Chipper Cash will establishe a company presence in…

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Helping African Businesses Get Paid, Shola Akinlade of Paystack

Shola Akinlade - https://twitter.com/shollsman - is CEO and cofounder of Paystack - http://bit.ly/2PDkf5k. Paystack helps businesses in Africa get paid online and offline. They’re based in Lagos, Nigeria and were part of the Winter 2016 batch. The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon - https://twitter.com/craigcannon *** Topics 00:00 - What is Paystack? 00:40 - Shola's background and previous company 4:00 - Paystack's YC application 5:35 - Meeting his cofounder 7:00 - Interviewing at YC 9:55 - Joining YC as a Nigerian company 10:30 - Differences between startups in Nigeria and the US 13:00 - Nigeria's payments market 15:30 - Paystack's growth 19:00 - Expanding to other countries and hiring 25:00 - The best part of doing YC 29:00 - Crypto developments in Africa 29:55 - Creative Joe asks - How difficult is it to get into YC? 30:30 - Educating US investors 31:40 - Paul Israel asks - What gaps do you think still exist in the Nigerian fintech space? 32:35 - Nelson asks - Are there any conventional startup advice that did not work for Paystack as their target market is Africa? 34:55 - Nelson asks - What are some important lessons he learnt while building Paystack? 37:20 - Nelson asks - What are some applications he would love to see been built on top of Paystack? 39:30 - Building for Africa 41:50 - Nestor Ezeagu asks - Do you think something like GoFundMe could work in Nigeria? 42:20 - Car Joyy asks - Can I receive payments as an MVP ecommerce site before registering as a company? 43:40 - Achyut Shrestha asks - What’s your tech stack? 44:15 - Jordan Jackson asks - What are the biggest cultural differences that you account for in UX and product design? 48:15 - Shola's outlook 50:10 - What he misses about life before Paystack 52:25 - Paystack in five years 53:50 - Music recommendations from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_t7kHENrxg

TechCrunch: Africa Roundup: Kenya’s BRCK acquires EveryLayer, Nigeria’s TeamApt eyes global expansion

TechCrunch: Africa Roundup: Kenya’s BRCK acquires EveryLayer, Nigeria’s TeamApt eyes global expansion

Kenyan  communications hardware company BRCK acquired the assets of Nairobi based internet provider Surf and its U.S. parent EveryLayer in a purchase deal of an undisclosed amount in February.

Based in Nairobi, Surf is a hotspot service provider aimed at offering affordable internet to lower income segments. BRCK is a five year old venture that pairs its rugged WiFi routers to internet service…

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Stripe Climate is a new tool to let Stripe customers make carbon removal purchases

Last year, payments giant Stripe announced that it would donate $1 million of its own funds annually into companies that are building technology to remove carbon from our environment, with the recipients of that investment announced in May of this year. Now, it’s expanding that commitment with a new product aimed at getting its customers to invest, too.

Today, the company is launching Stripe Climate, a new tool that companies using Stripe can integrate to set up automatic contributions that are made as a percentage of each transaction — the company can set the percentage itself — with the proceeds feeding into an add-on pot on top of Stripe’s own investments in carbon reduction companies.

Currently there are four companies on that investment list: CarbonCure (which collects carbon dioxide and recycles it for other purposes, among other things); Climeworks, which is building carbon removal plants; Project Vesta, which has worked on projects like “green sand” to remove carbon on beaches; and Charm Industrial (converting waste biomass to bio-oil). These are “earthshots,” as it were — not completely proven tech that might be too costly to run if it does work — but as with moonshots, there will be a lot of capital needed even to see how and if they can get off the ground.

It’s also likely there will be more efforts added to the list — and maybe some subtracted — over time.

For now, companies using Stripe Climate don’t get a chance to choose how their contributions get invested: they basically mirror and follow the path of those being made by Stripe itself.

Stripe Climate is free to use, and Stripe said that the 25 companies testing out the service in a closed beta — the list includes Flexport, Substack, Flipcause, and OpenSnow — have already contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the effort.

“We built Substack because, while it’s easy to be depressed about the current state of the media business, we think there’s tremendous opportunity for those daring enough to be optimistic. We feel the same way about climate change,” said Chris Best, Co-Founder and CEO of Substack, in a statement. “We’re done with defaulting to depression. We want to help show the way to a better future—and better yet, we want to give all Substack writers the opportunity to join us. Stripe’s climate initiative is a gift because it removes all barriers to positive action. This program makes it easy, and valuable, to do the right thing. We’re proud to be part of it.”

Stripe Climate is playing on some important themes at the company.

Stripe — now valued at $36 billion — has made a name for itself primarily through a simple payments service that site and app developers can integrate by way of APIs, using a few lines of code. That has helped the company grow fast and pick up a huge number of users, from sole-trader outfits to much bigger businesses.

The company is using the same low-friction principle here with Stripe Climate: the idea is that while companies and individuals might in theory be committed to making investments in environmental causes, many don’t know where to begin, or how to do it in an efficient way. This gives them that way, having it integrated as part of its existing payments flow.

“A lot of the social issues dealing with right now are collective action problems,” said Nan Ransohoff, Stripe’s head of climate, in an interview. “Climate change is a collective action problem. Coordinating can be complicated and expensive. So can we make it easy to bring Stripe businesses together to make the whole bigger than the sum of its parts? If we can do it even a little bit we as a planet we will be in a better place.”

The second theme of this is how it fits into what Stripe is building on a more strategic level. Basic payments may be the company’s bread and butter, but on top of that it’s been adding a host of other services for businesses, from tools to help them incorporate their operations in the US, through to fraud prevention and analytics, and money advances and credit based on their existing activity on the platform. And the other week it also made its largest ever acquisition, buying a startup called Paystack in Nigeria, to enter more comprehensively into new geographies like Africa.

The idea is not just to make more money from their customers through value-added services, but to increase stickiness with customers, who might be less reluctant to switch out a simple API if that data is also integrated into a number of other parts of their business and how they operate.

Stripe Climate isn’t going to make Stripe or its customers any money — in fact, it’s a way for its customers to give money away — but it’s a very strong goodwill gesture that could go some way to building more loyalty and regard with its customers.

Ransohoff said that the plan will also be to expand Stripe Climate into a tool that these companies can also in turn offer to their own customers at checkout — not unlike the many offers you might already see these days to contribute money towards good causes when you are hitting “buy now” on any number of sites.

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