What Upperlink does

Upperlink is an indigenous Nigerian fintech and digital infrastructure company founded in 2003 and headquartered in Lagos, with a regional office in Abuja and operating presence across five African countries (Nigeria, DRC, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone). The company is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP), Payment Terminal Service Provider (PTSP), and Super-Agent, and serves as a NIBSS aggregator, giving it regulated standing in the Nigerian payments stack. It is also the first ICANN-accredited domain registrar in Nigeria (since 2014) and holds ISO 27001, NDPR, and PCI DSS certifications.

Upperlink's product portfolio spans payment processing, treasury and identity infrastructure, and vertical SaaS. PayGate is a payment gateway aggregating Visa, Mastercard, Verve, and pseudo-account-based account-to-account transfers with real-time merchant crediting. BAMS (Bank Account Monitoring System) provides multi-bank treasury management, fund sweeping, bulk payments, and tax remittance for finance teams. PayChoice automates bulk salary and vendor payments with approval workflows. EduChoice is a cloud-based school management portal, BioChoice is a biometric capture and verification system (fingerprint, voice, face), and Upperlink Cloud provides domain registration, hosting, SSL, and Microsoft 365 reselling. Most recently, Upperlink was authorized by the Nigeria Revenue Service as the System Integrator for Nigeria's national e-invoicing platform (Merchant Buyer Solution), positioning it as a mandated integration layer for nationwide e-invoicing compliance.

The business operates a hybrid go-to-market: enterprise and government field sales for large organizations, banks, and federal/state agencies (with named deployments at the Nigerian Army Education Corps, Katsina State Government, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, and leading Nigerian banks), complemented by self-serve online portals for PayGate and domain services, and a developer-facing API platform. Revenue is generated through transaction fees on payment processing and recurring subscriptions on BAMS, EduChoice, cloud, and VAS offerings. The company is privately held, founder-led under MD/CEO Dr. Akano Olusegun, with no disclosed external funding, and maintains five wholly-owned subsidiaries spanning cloud, digital financial services, corporate registrations, and telecom VAS.

Name

Upperlink

Legal name

Upperlink Limited

Website

https://upperlink.ng

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Upperlink is a Nigerian fintech and digital infrastructure company offering payment processing (PayGate), multi-bank treasury management (BAMS), bulk payments, biometric and school management SaaS, domain registration, and now NRS e-invoicing system integration, serving banks, federal and state governments, and large enterprises across five African countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure (FSAGABAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Marketplace / Platform Acquiring (PayFac & Sub-Merchant Management) (FSAMABAF), Bill Pay, Invoicing & Payables Platforms (BPAMAFAF), Biller Direct EBPP Platforms (FSAMAJAA)

Keywords

• Payment gateway services
• Treasury management software
• Domain registration services
• E-invoicing integration solutions
• Biometric authentication software

Headquarters

HQ city

Stone Mountain

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Payment Processing Services: Revenue generated through payment gateway services (PayGate) aggregating card payments and account-to-account transactions. Supports Visa, Mastercard, Verve cards and pseudo-account payments with real-time crediting.
2. BAMS Treasury Management: Bank Account Monitoring System providing multi-bank account management, fund sweeping, bulk payments, and tax remittance services for treasury managers.
3. Domain Registration Services: First ICANN-accredited registrar in Nigeria providing domain registration, hosting, SSL certificates, and related cloud services.
4. Enterprise Software Solutions: EduChoice for school management, BioChoice for biometric solutions, and e-invoicing integration services for enterprise clients.
5. Cloud and VAS Services: NCC-licensed VAS provision, cloud hosting, professional email, corporate email, and productivity tools including Microsoft 365.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Upperlink is a Nigerian fintech company that builds and operates a proprietary payment infrastructure platform, anchored by the PayGate payment gateway (aggregating Visa, Mastercard, Verve and account-to-account transfers via pseudo-account numbers), the BAMS multi-bank treasury and account monitoring system, and PayChoice bulk payment automation. The portfolio extends to the EduChoice cloud school management portal, BioChoice Android biometric verification, Upperlink Cloud domain registration and hosting (as the first ICANN-accredited registrar in Nigeria), and NRS e-Invoicing Integration connecting organizations to Nigeria's national e-invoicing infrastructure.

Product overview

Upperlink is a Nigerian fintech company offering a platform of payment and enterprise technology solutions. The core offering includes PayGate (payment gateway aggregating major card schemes and account-to-account payments), BAMS (treasury and account monitoring for multi-bank management), PayChoice (bulk payment automation for salaries and vendor remittances), EduChoice (cloud-based school management portal), BioChoice (biometric security solution), Upperlink Cloud (domain registration and hosting), and NRS e-Invoicing Integration (national e-invoicing compliance). The products are designed for medium and large-scale enterprises with emphasis on scalability, security, flexibility, and administrative efficiency.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• PayGate Payment gateway that aggregates card payments via Visa, Mastercard, and Verve and supports account-to-account transfers using dynamically generated pseudo-account numbers for real-time merchant crediting. Built for enterprises, banks, fintechs, and merchants needing unified payment acceptance.
• BAMS (Bank Account Monitoring System) Treasury and account monitoring solution for Finance and Treasury Managers managing multiple bank accounts across different banks. Provides summarized dashboards, single account view, fund sweeping, vendor and bulk salary payments, e-tax remittance, and comprehensive reporting.
• PayChoice Bulk payment and remittance solution for salaries, vendor payments, and tax remittance. Provides automated workflows with approval routing for initiating and tracking bulk disbursements.
• EduChoice Cloud-based school management portal that centralizes all school functions including student records, admissions, course registration, transcript management, e-payment collection, and result management. Designed for schools and educational institutions.
• BioChoice Android-based biometric solution that captures and validates user data using fingerprint, Automatic Voice Recognition, and Face Identification. Used for secure access control, bio-data collection, and identity verification.
• Upperlink Cloud
• NRS e-Invoicing Integration

Quantifiable outcome

• Delivered secure portal for AGILE project enabling Katsina State to emerge as best overall state in the initiative
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2026NRS authorized Upperlink as System Integrator for Nigeria's national e-invoicing platform (Merchant Buyer Solution), enabling businesses to connect for real-time invoice validation and compliant digital tax reporting.
• Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS)coreTechnology or IntegrationUpperlink is an aggregator to NIBSS, extending NIBSS services to sub-aggregators and merchants in line with CBN policy.
• InterswitchcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership with Interswitch for card payments and processing for merchant collections.
• Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)coreTechnology or IntegrationUpperlink is the only ICANN-accredited Registrar in Nigeria, providing domain registrations for TLDs like .com, .org, .net, and country-specific domains.
• Fidelity BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Fidelity Bank in AGILE project for secure portal development and payment management for Katsina State.
• Nigerian Army Education CorpscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic MoU to deploy EduChoice and Upperlink Paygate in all Command Secondary Schools nationwide for school management and payment infrastructure modernization.
• Ogun State Bureau of Information Communication Technology (BICT)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with BICT Ogun State to organize sensitization workshop on Nigerian Data Protection Law compliance.
• Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted data protection workshop with NDPC and Ogun State government for industry leaders and government officials.
• Leading Banks in NigeriacoreTechnology or IntegrationPreferred solutions provider to leading banks in Nigeria and to their subsidiaries in five African countries.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Interswitch: Interswitch is Nigeria's largest payment processor and switching company, offering card processing, switching, and payment infrastructure analogous to Upperlink's PayGate and NIBSS aggregator role. Both compete for bank, enterprise, and government payment mandates in Nigeria.
• Flutterwave: Flutterwave is a pan-African payment gateway providing card and alternative payment method processing to enterprises across multiple African countries, directly competing with PayGate on enterprise and government payment acceptance.
• Paystack: Paystack (acquired by Stripe) is a Nigerian-originated payment gateway offering card and account-based payment processing to businesses, directly comparable to PayGate in product and target market.
• Remita: Remita is a Nigerian payment platform and aggregator widely used by federal and state governments for collections and disbursements (TSA), competing head-to-head with Upperlink on government payment infrastructure mandates.
• Moniepoint (formerly TeamApt): Moniepoint is a Nigerian merchant payment and business banking platform serving SMBs and enterprises, competing with PayGate on merchant acquiring and payment acceptance across Nigeria.
• Paga: Paga is a Nigerian mobile payment and consumer merchant platform offering payment, bill pay, and disbursement services comparable in scope to Upperlink's PayGate and PayChoice products.

Emerging players

• Mono: Mono is a Nigerian open-banking and financial data infrastructure provider serving fintechs and enterprises, partially overlapping with Upperlink's BAMS-style account data aggregation capabilities.
• Okra: Okra is a Nigerian open-finance API platform providing account data and payment initiation services, an emerging competitor to portions of Upperlink's BAMS and PayGate API stack.
• Squad by HopePSB: Squad is a digital banking and payment platform from Hope Payment Service Bank targeting Nigerian consumers and SMBs, an emerging adjacent competitor in payment acceptance and disbursements.

Broad incumbents

• Stripe: Stripe is a global incumbent in online payment processing and the parent of Paystack; it competes broadly with Upperlink's PayGate for enterprise and cross-border payment acceptance, even though it does not specialize in the Nigerian market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/UpperlinkNg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/upperlink-limited
• Instagraminstagram.com/upperlinkng
• Xx.com/UpperlinkLtd

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Upperlink