In recent years, Lagos has emerged not just as a hub for startup innovation but as a centre of bold acquisition activity that is drawing attention across the African continent. What is happening in Nigeria’s tech merger and acquisition landscape is changing fast and in ways that are clearly distinct from the rest of Africa. A growing number of deals led by Nigerian founders show a new pragmatic approach to buying regulated licences and building wider business stacks instead of the typical strategy of chasing user growth or geographic expansion alone.
This trend is more than an isolated pattern. It reflects Nigeria’s unique market dynamics, the weight of its large and youthful population, its established venture capital flow, and a diaspora with real financial influence abroad. Across Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem and broader tech space, these strategic moves are creating a new template for how tech founders think about scale and competitiveness.
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A Strategic Shift in Acquisition Behaviour
Nigeria’s tech founders have embraced mergers and acquisitions as tools for rapid transformation and competitive advantage. In this evolving playbook, licences are no longer hurdles to be slowly earned from regulators. Instead, startups are acquiring institutions that already carry those approvals so they can transform operations almost instantly.
A clear example of this approach is the acquisition activity in the fintech space. Paystack, a Nigerian payments company that made waves with its own acquisition by Stripe in 2020, surprised many when it purchased a microfinance bank earlier in 2026. By doing so, Paystack moved from being a payment processor to a regulated lender. According to Launch Base Africa, this signifies a major shift from being a tech platform to a financial infrastructure provider.
Other Nigerian startups have followed similar paths. Rank, backed by Y Combinator, acquired a microfinance bank to gain deposit-taking capabilities and expand its financial services reach. Moniepoint, which already processes payments for millions of Nigerian businesses, acquired Kenya’s Sumac Microfinance Bank to bypass the lengthy process of securing a Kenyan licence on its own. Trove Finance has also moved into securities trading by acquiring a license-holding broker-dealer, allowing it to bring trade execution in-house instead of relying on third parties.
This aggressive licence acquisition strategy is happening at a scale not seen elsewhere in Africa. Between 2025 and early 2026, at least seven Nigerian startups acquired regulated financial licences through mergers and acquisitions. By contrast, across the other 53 African countries tracked in that period, only one deal of a similar nature was observed.
Focus on Vertical Integration and Full Business Stacks
More than just licences, Nigerian founders are growing their companies by integrating entire layers of business operations. Unlike the typical model where startups focus on a single product or service, a number of Nigerian firms are building what can be described as full-stack platforms.
A notable case is Flutterwave’s acquisition of Mono. Flutterwave, widely known as a payments processor across Africa, took a significant step by integrating open banking and identity services into its set of offerings. Mono has powered millions of bank connections and huge volumes of financial data. The acquisition transformed Flutterwave into a full financial infrastructure provider rather than simply a payment facilitator. Early investors in Mono are said to be seeing significant returns due to the elevated value of the combined services.
Other examples include food delivery platforms that have expanded beyond logistics to own associated technology stacks. Chowdeck, for instance, bought Mira, a restaurant point-of-sale technology and analytics provider. Instead of just delivering food, its business now encompasses payments, inventory and data analytics, making it a more comprehensive partner to the restaurant industry.
Andela, known for connecting African engineers to global work opportunities, acquired a US-based skills assessment platform called Woven. Through this move, Andela brings advanced technical assessment tools into its recruitment engine. This suggests the growth strategy goes beyond localisation into shaping how global tech talent is evaluated and matched with opportunities.
Beyond fintech, this integration-first strategy contrasts sharply with trends seen in other African markets. In Egypt, South Africa and Kenya, acquisitions tend to be oriented towards geographic reach or piecemeal capabilities rather than the kind of full-spectrum business structure that is now visible in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Structural Advantages in the M&A Wave
Several long-term structural factors help explain why Nigerian founders are doing acquisitions this way and why others in Africa are adopting different models.
First, Nigeria’s population of over 200 million people gives it a domestic market size that few other African countries can match. The sheer number of potential consumers and users provides a scale that makes large buys and broader operational strategies financially viable. Kenya, by comparison, has around 50 million people while Tunisia has about 12 million. This means Nigerian companies can build scalable platforms that break even and grow even if they focus primarily on the home market before expanding.
Second, capital access is a key difference. Before the global slowdown in startup funding, Nigeria attracted significant venture investment. Companies such as Flutterwave raised hundreds of millions of dollars, providing the financial cushion that enables larger and bolder acquisition deals. While other African tech ecosystems also attract funding, these have not matched Nigeria’s level for M&A purposes.
Regulatory frameworks also matter. Nigeria’s Central Bank and securities regulators have developed specific licensing processes for fintech and banking that can be acquired and leveraged, turning licences into assets in their own right. Not all African markets have comparable frameworks that make licence acquisition as valuable or straightforward.
Another distinct advantage is Nigeria’s large and economically significant diaspora. Estimates suggest about 15 million Nigerians live abroad, particularly in the UK and the United States. These diaspora communities often face financial exclusion because they lack local credit histories. Nigerian fintechs acquiring international licences or regulated entities are able to serve these diaspora customers directly, opening markets that are otherwise difficult to enter. Pesa and LemFi, for example, secured Financial Conduct Authority licences in the UK, providing multi-currency wallets and credit infrastructure to serve diaspora populations. This diaspora-oriented strategy is not widely mirrored elsewhere in Africa.
Finally, the fierce determination of Nigerian founders shapes their risk appetite. Facing a challenging domestic business environment with infrastructure gaps, inflation and macroeconomic pressures, many founders are driven to seek bold expansions early. They are used to operating in a high-stakes environment that rewards decisive action and fast adaptation. It is this entrepreneurial culture that helps explain why many M&A strategies look risk-tolerant and ambitious compared to counterparts across Africa.
The Larger African M&A Context and What It Means
While Nigerian-led deals are noteworthy, the broader African M&A narrative shows a continent that is diverging into multiple strategic models rather than converging on one single path.
In places like Egypt, South Africa and Kenya, the acquisition playbook looks different. Firms in these markets are often buying businesses to expand regionally, build sectoral capabilities or enter niche markets. These deals tend to be smaller and more targeted, reflecting both the size of those economies and different industry focus areas. For example, Egyptian startups have acquired companies in real estate tech and HR technology as part of their growth strategies. South African acquisitions often target integrated service ecosystems like emergency response tech or payment tools for specific merchant segments. These moves illustrate alternative paths that prioritise local strengths and regional synergies.
The rest of the African continent is also showing its own M&A patterns. Recent data indicates that tech handovers, deals for logistics firms and acquisitions in emerging sectors like climate tech and SaaS are gaining traction in markets from Ghana to Tanzania to Madagascar. Across African tech activity overall, M&A rose significantly in recent years, with Nigerian firms accounting for almost half of expansion moves in 2024. Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Kenya together represent the lion’s share of activity, highlighting a vibrant and increasingly competitive tech acquisition landscape across the region.
This diversity of approaches suggests that African tech ecosystems are maturing. No single model dominates. Instead, each market adapts to its own structural conditions and opportunities. Nigeria’s licence-first, full-stack acquisition strategy is just one of several viable approaches that could shape the future of tech consolidation on the continent.
For Nigerian founders who have turned to licences and platform control as strategic plays, the next challenge will be proving that these moves can sustain long-term profitability and competitive advantage on both continental and global stages.
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