Paystack Acquires Allawee, Winds Down Standalone Card-Issuing Service

Paystack, Nigeria's largest payments processor and a subsidiary of US payments giant Stripe, acquired card-issuing startup Allawee in 2025 without public announcement. The deal has come to light as Allawee's customers discovered this week that their accounts and cards would stop working on December 1, 2026, through shutdown emails from the company.

Acquisition and Integration

Paystack completed the acquisition of Allawee sometime in 2025, according to multiple sources. The transaction was never publicly announced at the time. Since the acquisition, Allawee's card-issuing technology has been integrated into Paystack, with the company's team and technology now absorbed into a new Paystack product line. Allawee's consumer-facing services are being wound down as part of this integration.

Customer Impact and Shutdown Timeline

Customers of Allawee discovered the acquisition through shutdown emails notifying them that their accounts and cards would cease operating on December 1, 2026. The deal price was not disclosed.

Allawee's Background

Allawee was founded in 2022 by Ikenna Enenwali and Oreofe Olurin. The no-code card-issuing startup built card infrastructure that enabled rapid launches for companies including Piggyvest, Nomba, and Carbon.