Before Paystack became part of Stripe, Shola Akinlade was a software builder working through a much smaller question: how could the tools he made solve problems that businesses faced every day? His path from enterprise software to payments now extends into a wider financial technology group.
A software career before the startup
Akinlade studied computer science at Babcock University and worked at Heineken, where his responsibilities included database management. He later co-founded Klein Devort, the company behind the collaboration software Precurio. Building software for organisations brought him closer to banks and the practical difficulties of moving money online.
That experience matters to the Paystack story. Payments emerged from work with real business systems, rather than from an abstract search for a startup idea. Akinlade and fellow software developer Ezra Olubi founded Paystack in 2015. The company was accepted into Y Combinator and launched publicly in January 2016.
Making it easier for businesses to get paid
Paystack built tools that let merchants accept online payments through multiple channels. Its growth attracted Stripe, which acquired the company in October 2020. The deal was a major milestone, but Akinlade continued leading the business as it expanded across African markets.
The next chapter
In a January 2026 company update, Akinlade announced The Stack Group, a proposed parent bringing together Paystack, consumer payments brand Zap, Paystack Microfinance Bank and TSG Labs. He said Paystack served more than 300,000 businesses and had reached group-level profitability.
The announcement described a new ownership structure involving Stripe, Akinlade and employees, subject to regulatory approvals. It also set out his intention to continue leading the group and invest personally in it. The direction is broader than merchant checkout: banking, consumer payments and new technology products now form part of the ambition.
His journey illustrates how an enduring startup can grow from repeated exposure to a difficult customer problem. For Akinlade, the connecting thread is building software that helps businesses operate—and finding the next obstacle once the first one becomes easier to solve.
Leave a comment