Nigerian digital bank for small businesses, Brass, has been acquired.
An investment group led by Paystack made the acquisition.
Other investors in the group are PiggyVest, Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, and angel investors, Olumide Soyombo and Oo Nwoye.
The acquisition was announced on Tuesday by Paystack in a statement authored by its Chief Operating Officer, Amandine Lobelle.
The statement also expressed confidence in the investors and high expectation of growth for Brass;
“Each member of the investment group brings several years’ worth of experience financing and building reliable financial service products, and together with a new infusion of capital, we’re excited for Brass’ next stage of growth,” the statement read.
This acquisition also means the exit of the company’s co-founders, Sola Akindolu and Emmanuel Okeke, from the business.
The company’s customers and employees, however, will not be affected by the change , as the product will remain the same.
Brass outgoing CEO, Akindolu, confirmed this in a comment;
“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.”
Launched 4 years ago, the company had raised more than $2 million from investors.
It however reportedly ran into a crisis months ago, and was unable to give customers access to their deposits , citing a funding freeze and harsh economic situation .
With a fresh capital injection,the crisis was resolved, allowing the company to process withdrawals for affected businesses.
For Paystack and PiggyVest , this gives a stronger foothold in their familiar terrain as the acquired business complements their operations.
From its focus on consumer finance, PiggyVest delved into the social payments segment with its acquisition of Pocket (formerly Abeg).
Paystack, on the other hand, has built payment tools for businesses across Africa and potentially provides a customer pipeline for Brass.
As for the new leadership roles for Brass, no announcement have been made yet.