Helping African Businesses Get Paid

After studying computer science and working at Heineken, Akinlade built Prowl, a cloud storage product that he said reached more than 200,000 families in six languages. Work with three Nigerian banks showed him how much payments needed to improve. He spent about a year talking with a waitlist of roughly 300 prospective customers before launching Paystack in January 2016.

Akinlade described how an introduction by email led to YC applications; after missing the Fellowship, he applied again and joined the Winter 2016 batch with co-founder Ezra. At the interview, he demonstrated a checkout flow that reduced a process from seven steps to two. YC encouraged Paystack to open its product to customers instead of waiting until fraud concerns were fully resolved. He said the YC network and its Bookface forum became valuable sources of advice and peer support.

Akinlade said less than 2% of Nigerian consumer spending used cards, and much of that card activity was cash withdrawals at ATMs. He pointed to online electricity seller BuyPower as an example of how digital payments could make services more convenient. Paystack focused on successful transactions, customer support, and an automated dispute process, while also building merchant community through tools, content, and events.

Paystack viewed its payments system as covering what happens before, during, and after a transaction, while recognizing that each country has its own context. Akinlade described learning this during a visit to Cairo and said expansion required local expertise; Ghana was a nearer market where the company had made progress. Product design also had to account for first-time online card users, with examples like tooltips and diagrams explaining where to find a card’s security code. Paystack supported bank payments and USSD as alternatives to cards.

Akinlade said Paystack’s team had grown from about five people to 36 in roughly a year, and the company was seeking senior engineers to help with scaling its systems. He wanted experienced engineers to work alongside local talent and help raise engineering skills across the team. His longer-term aim was for Paystack to support successful African businesses, while he stressed that founders need a strong team and can also draw on the wider startup ecosystem.