Lazerpay, Pivo Africa, Thepeer, Okra and Lidya: Five Nigerian Fintechs That Shut Down Between 2023 and 2025

Five Nigerian fintech startups shut down between 2023 and 2025 despite attracting investors and building digital financial services. Their closures were tied to funding shortages, regulatory difficulties, weak customer adoption and financial distress, a reminder that capital and product innovation alone do not guarantee survival.

Nigeria's fintech sector has drawn millions of dollars in investment. Startups have built digital banking, payment infrastructure, cryptocurrency services and lending platforms. Not every business has survived the task of building a sustainable financial technology company.

Lazerpay and Pivo Africa

Lazerpay, a cryptocurrency payments startup, announced its closure in April 2023 after struggling to secure funding. Founded in 2021 by Njoku Emmanuel, it built technology that allowed businesses to accept cryptocurrency payments through an application programming interface, or API. Lazerpay said it could no longer sustain operations after efforts to raise additional capital failed. It had reduced its workforce in November 2022 to manage costs.

During 17 months of operations, Lazerpay reportedly served more than 3,000 businesses and received backing from investors, including Shola Akinlade, co-founder of Paystack. It asked customers to withdraw their funds before its April 30, 2023, closure deadline and offered to sell its intellectual property to interested buyers.

Pivo Africa, a fintech providing banking and lending services to supply-chain businesses, announced its shutdown in December 2023. Founded in 2021 by Nkiru Amadi-Emina and Ijeoma Akwiwu, it developed products for logistics operators, haulage companies and other businesses moving goods. Its services included Pivo Capital, which provided financing, and Pivo Business, a digital banking product. The company sought to solve cash-flow problems for businesses that often needed money to complete transactions before receiving payments.

Pivo's closure came about a year after it raised a $2 million seed round backed by investors, including Y Combinator and Ventures Platform. The company did not initially give a detailed public explanation. Subsequent reports linked its collapse to disagreements between its co-founders.

Thepeer and Okra

Thepeer, a Nigerian payment-infrastructure startup, announced in April 2024 that it was shutting down after struggling to achieve sustainable growth. Founded in 2021, it developed APIs that enabled businesses and fintech platforms to facilitate payments between digital wallets. The startup raised a $2.1 million seed round in 2022, with plans to connect wallets across different financial technology platforms.

Its founders identified regulatory compliance difficulties and slower-than-expected adoption of wallet-based payments as major obstacles. Thepeer said its technology alone was not enough to build a sustainable business without stronger market demand. It returned part of its remaining capital to investors as it completed the shutdown.

Okra, one of Nigeria's prominent open-banking startups, wound down operations in May 2025. Founded in 2019 by Fara Ashiru Jituboh and David Peterside, it developed APIs that enabled financial institutions and businesses to access customers' banking information securely with their permission. Its technology supported financial applications that needed to connect with bank accounts to verify transactions and provide services.

Okra attracted approximately $16 million in funding and built partnerships across Africa's financial services industry. It eventually discontinued its core open-banking business and its Nebula cloud-infrastructure product. Co-founder Jituboh subsequently left the company. The shutdown marked the end of a startup that had played a significant role in promoting open banking in Nigeria.

Lidya and the wider lesson

Lidya, a digital lender that provided financing to small and medium-sized enterprises, officially ceased operations in October 2025. Founded in 2016 by Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin, it offered businesses access to loans through its digital platform. It later expanded into European markets, including Poland and the Czech Republic.

Lidya reportedly raised $16.45 million during its journey, but funding and expansion did not prevent its collapse. In an email to customers, the company cited severe financial distress and confirmed it could no longer continue operating. It said it was unable to process funds or settle claims because of its financial position. Reports before the shutdown highlighted unpaid salaries, the departure of senior executives and the disbandment of its technology team. The closure ended nearly a decade of operations in digital lending.

The five cases show that Nigerian fintechs face pressure on funding, compliance, adoption and management. For founders and investors, the record is clear: raising money is not the same as building a business that can last.