For an unknown sum, an investment consortium managed by Paystack has purchased Brass, a faltering fintech company in Nigeria.
Olumide Soyombo, an angel investor, Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, and PiggyVest are among the other partners in the transaction.
Brass and Paystack both released separate statements on Tuesday announcing the transaction.
This news follows Brass’s disengagement of an undisclosed number of employees, which it attributed on the state of the economy just two months ago.
Four years ago, Sola Akindolu and Emmanuel Okeke co-founded a venture that needed $2 million to develop and adapt to the changing business environment.
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According to the statement from Paystack, each member of the investment group brings several years of experience in financing and building reliable financial service products, together with a new infusion of capital, to drive the next stage of growth for Brass.
Commenting on the acquisition, the Chief Operating Officer of Paystack, Amandine Lobelle, said,
“Every day, thousands of businesses use Paystack’s payments tool to accept payments from customers from anywhere in the world. Payments, however, are only one part of a business’s financial stack.
“To meet their goals, ambitious businesses in Africa require a wide variety of world-class tools from payroll to expense management and beyond – the kinds of tools built by Nigeria-headquartered Brass.
“Brass and Paystack have had a long working relationship since Brass’ founding, and we’re thrilled today to announce a new chapter in our partnership.”
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Speaking on the acquisition, Brass founder, Sola Akindolu, said the company started four years ago with a simple mission of enabling entrepreneurship for Africans, making it more permission-less and successful.
He added that over the years, the company has added and supported tens of thousands of businesses with top-end financial tools for local businesses.
“Brass has grown tremendously since we started this incredible journey, and it continues to be an important player in Nigeria’s SMB economy.
“Today, I write to officially share that Paystack has led a consortium with members like Piggytech, Ventures Platform, and P1 Ventures to acquire Brass to continue the work we started. Brass has been product-led since its founding days, building incredible products with a great brand and leading an amazing team,” he said.
Following the acquisition, Akindolu said Brass will continue to build and support its customers and grow with a new leadership team, as the founding leadership team will leave to pursue other opportunities.
