Norrsken-backed Startbutton makes market entry easy for startups eyeing global expansion

Ansoff’s matrix, a two-by-two matrix burned into the minds of business students, provides four options for a company chasing growth. One is market development, which takes existing products to new markets. While Ansoff’s matrix shows market development isn’t high risk, it comes with problems. One such challenge is that because startups don’t want to dive headlong into these new markets, they may treat these new markets as experiments.

This test-the-water approach means they may not want to register an entity in these new markets just yet, which in turn means accepting payments will be impossible.

What if you could sell your products, accept payments and pay taxes without incorporating a new entity in those markets? That’s the fundamental pitch of Startbutton, a Norssken-backed startup founded in 2023 by Malick Bolakale, a former compliance lead at Paystack, and Kelechi Oti, an ex-Microsoft engineer. Startbutton is what finance folks call a merchant of record, a company that helps you sell your products in foreign markets, take payments, and sort out tax obligations. It will take on all liabilities, too (think customer refunds, for instance), all for a small fee.

Startbutton claims it has processed over $3 million since inception, earning a commission on each transaction. Most of its customers are in the aviation, gaming, and e-commerce sectors in over 20 countries. “We intend to start first with digital commerce and move to physical goods subsequently.”

In its journey to continental domination, Startbutton will compete with Klasha, dLocal, Flocash, and Kyshi, which offer similar services in Africa’s $1.5 Trillion B2B payments marketplace. While its competitors help startups receive global payments and settle local transactions, Startbutton offers added services like tax settlement, regulatory compliance, and fraud protection. Bolakale believes the startup’s grasp of compliance sets it apart from competitors.

The startup is in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa and plans to expand into Tanzania, Egypt, and parts of Asia.

Like many startup ideas, Startbutton was born from a problem its founders encountered. “When I started working at Paystack, the problem became more apparent. We couldn’t work with foreign companies without local entities,” said Bolakale. “It was clear we had a product that pan-African businesses need and could scale globally.”

Per Bolakale, Startbutton primarily serves B2B businesses in aviation, gaming, and e-commerce across businesses in over 20 countries. “We intend to start first from digital commerce and move to physical goods subsequently.”

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