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Hydrogen

“Can a locally-built Nigerian payment gateway become the default acquirer for African businesses transacting cross-border?”

Founded2022
HQLagos, Nigeria
IndustryFintech / Payments
The story

Hydrogen is a Nigerian payments company founded in 2022 offering a payment gateway, POS terminals, and merchant app for African businesses. Its stack is largely self-operated on local Nigerian rails (NIBSS bank transfers, local card acquiring for Verve/Mastercard/Visa), with international card acceptance in USD and GBP. Distributed workforce across Nigeria, UK, US and Canada.

Last 12 months
—
Product timeline
2022
Hydrogen Payment Services Company Ltd founded in Lagos to simplify payments for African businesses.· banking
2023
Launched payment gateway API supporting Mastercard, Visa, Verve cards and bank transfers in NGN, USD, GBP.· banking
The stack
2 layers disclosed in Hydrogen’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Hydrogen Payment Gateway (self-operated)
Card network
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
2 more providers across 1 layer, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.

Hydrogen — frequently asked

Who is Hydrogen's payment processor?

Hydrogen processes payments through Hydrogen Payment Gateway (self-operated).

Which card network does Hydrogen use?

Hydrogen's cards run on Mastercard and Visa.

What is Hydrogen's embedded finance stack?

The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Hydrogen's stack: Payments / PSP (Hydrogen Payment Gateway (self-operated)); Card network (Mastercard and Visa).

Where is Hydrogen headquartered?

Hydrogen is founded in 2022 and headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.

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