COMPLETE LIST: 11 Startups That Shut Down Operations in Nigeria Over The Past Three Years

• Entrepreneurship Nigeria’s start-up shutdowns sped up after the worldwide financing boom of 2021 and 2022 started to slow.

• Entrepreneurship A number of business that raised countless dollars ultimately closed after having a hard time to raise fresh capital or develop sustainable profits.

• Entrepreneurship Financing was just part of the issue, with policy, client adoption, facilities, internal conflicts and challenging service economics likewise contributing.

• Entrepreneurship Some prominent business stopped briefly operations or altered instructions instead of closing down completely.

September 03, (THEWILL)– Uber has actually left Nigeria after 12 years, ending a run that started with its Lagos launch in 2014. The ride-hailing business revealed that it would unwind its Nigerian operations on September 2, 2026, following an evaluation of its service.

Its departure comes as Nigeria’s innovation community deals with a much harsher operating environment.

Over the previous 3 years, a number of start-ups that brought in financiers, constructed client bases and, in many cases, raised countless dollars have actually closed down after encountering financing, market, regulative, functional or success issues.

Entrepreneurship 1. Gigbanc– Fintech

L R Gigbanc creators Babatope Oni CTO and Paul Omoregie Okundaye CEO Source Condia
Gigbanc started unwinding in July 2026, approximately 3 years after it was established. The fintech constructed cross-border payment items for freelancers, developers, remote employees and companies, and had actually grown to more than 150,000 users throughout numerous nations.

Consumers were offered up until July 31 to transform their balances to naira and withdraw their funds. The business pointed out a challenging fundraising environment, pricey compliance requirements and facilities expenses. Gigbanc had actually processed more than 10 billion in payments before the shutdown.

Entrepreneurship 2. Chimoney– Fintech

Uchi Uchibeke Chimoney creator and CEO Source Interledger Foundation
Chimoney, a Nigerian-founded fintech headquartered in Canada, stopped accepting brand-new deals on April 30, 2026, before starting the procedure of closing down.

Its innovation enabled services to make cross-border payments through bank transfers, mobile cash, present cards and other payment channels.

Uchi Uchibeke stated the item worked, however circulation did not. The business had actually likewise raised less than $1 million over its life time, leaving restricted space to soak up the expense of running throughout several jurisdictions.

Entrepreneurship 3. GoLemon– Grocery Tech

GoLemon closed down in July 2026 after stopping working to protect extra financing.

The Lagos-based grocery shipment start-up was established in 2024 and constructed a design around providing groceries to clients. In spite of producing favorable contribution margins on private orders, the business might not reach adequate volume to cover its set expenses.

Its closure revealed the distinction in between earning money on specific deals and developing an organization efficient in supporting its broader operating expense.

Entrepreneurship 4. Lidya– Fintech

Lidya lasted almost a years before closing down in 2025.

Established in 2016 by Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin, the digital loan provider supplied credit to little and medium-sized companies and raised about $16.45 million throughout its run.

In October 2025, the business informed consumers that it had actually experienced extreme monetary distress and might no longer continue running. Its closure was noteworthy since Lidya had actually made it through numerous cycles in Nigeria’s fintech market and formerly paid out countless dollars in loans to countless organizations.

Entrepreneurship 5. Okra– Fintech

Okra stopped operations in May 2025 after raising more than$16 million.

The open-banking start-up developed APIs that enabled fintechs and other companies to link to clients ‘monetary accounts. It had actually turned into one of Nigeria’s most carefully enjoyed monetary facilities business, however strong financing and an advanced item were insufficient to ensure survival.

Its closure came amidst high operating expense and slower-than-expected advancement of Nigeria’s open-banking market.

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Entrepreneurship 6. Edukoya– EdTech

Edukoya closed down its core operations in February 2025, regardless of raising $3.5 million in 2021 in among Africa’s biggest pre-seed rounds at the time.

The K-12 education start-up tried to bring live online tutoring to African households. Inflation minimized home acquiring power while undependable web connections and restricted access to gadgets constrained its design.

Its shutdown highlighted the space in between financier interest for a market and the conditions needed for customers to sustainably spend for the item.

Entrepreneurship 7. Thepeer– Fintech

Thepeers 2 creators Kosisochukwu Chike Ononye and Michael Trojan Okoh Source TechCabal
Thepeer closed down in 2024 after raising $2.1 million in seed financing.

The start-up constructed payment facilities that enabled organizations to embed monetary services and link wallets. Adoption, nevertheless, did not establish as rapidly as anticipated, while compliance ended up being another challenge.

The creators returned the remaining capital to financiers and positioned the item in upkeep mode while trying to find another home for the innovation.

Entrepreneurship 8. Cova– Wealthtech

Cova revealed in January 2024 that it would stop operations the list below month.

The wealthtech start-up constructed a platform that enabled users to arrange and handle their properties in one location. After approximately 2 years, the business concluded that the item was not acquiring adequate traction to validate continuing to invest its remaining capital.

Operations ended on February 10, with refunds released to customers.[

Pivo Africa closed down in December 2023, approximately 2 years after it was established.

The fintech supplied monetary services to organizations running within Nigeria’s supply chain and had actually raised more than $2.6 million from financiers consisting of Y Combinator and Ventures Platform.

The business had actually raised a$2 million seed round just a year before its closure, making its shutdown among the clearest examples of how rapidly a venture-backed start-up’s fortunes might alter throughout the financing decline.

Entrepreneurship 10. 54gene– Healthtech

Abasi Ene Obong 54gene creator and previous CEO Source Black Ventures
Couple of Nigerian start-up shutdowns were as striking as 54gene’s.

The genomics business raised $45 million throughout 3 financing rounds after introducing in 2019 with an enthusiastic objective of structure African genomic datasets for drug discovery and pharmaceutical research study.

By July 2023, nevertheless, the business had actually started unwinding. Previous CEO Ron Chiarello later on validated that 54gene might no longer continue running economically. The business had actually likewise gone through management modifications, layoffs and monetary troubles before its closure.

The quantity raised made 54gene’s collapse especially substantial. It revealed that considerable endeavor support might not compensate forever for monetary and functional issues.

Entrepreneurship 11. Lazerpay– Fintech

Lazerpay closed down in April 2023 after stopping working to protect the financing it required to continue.

The crypto payments start-up, established in 2021, constructed facilities that enabled organizations to accept cryptocurrency and settle payments in a number of currencies. It had actually onboarded more than 3,000 organizations throughout its 17 months of operation.

Creator Emmanuel Njoku stated the business had actually attempted to keep operating however might not close the fundraising round needed to survive. The shutdown followed layoffs and months of efforts to protect business.

It deserves keeping in mind that FoodCourt, Bento Africa, Eden Life, MonieWorld and Jumia Food are typically consisted of in current shutdown lists, however they do not fulfill the very same requirements here.

FoodCourt stopped briefly operations, Bento explained its shutdown as short-term, Eden Life moved its customer company towards B2B, MonieWorld was a Moniepoint item instead of an independent start-up, while Jumia Food was a company system of Jumia instead of a standalone Nigerian start-up.

Entrepreneurship What These Closures Reveal

Taken together, these shutdowns inform a more complex story than Nigerian start-ups merely lacking cash.

Financing was definitely a significant element. Lazerpay might not protect another round. Gigbanc and GoLemon dealt with hard fundraising environments. Chimoney closed down after stopping working to raise sufficient capital to support a significantly pricey worldwide operation. Capital was just part of the issue.

For Thepeer, compliance and weak wallet adoption ended up being barriers. Cova had a hard time to get traction.

Edukoya experienced a market where acquiring power, connection, and gadget gain access to constrained its design. 54gene dealt with monetary and management issues after a duration of quick growth.

Lidya eventually mentioned serious monetary distress after years in the market.

The pattern matters since these were not just business with bad concepts. Some developed beneficial items, drew in major financiers, and discovered genuine consumers. What they might not constantly discover was the mix of capital, circulation, pricing power, regulative clearness and running economics required to make it through enough time to end up being long lasting services.

Uber’s exit for that reason gets here versus a background that extends beyond one ride-hailing business leaving the nation.

Its 12-year run is ending while a more youthful generation of Nigerian innovation business has actually currently found how unforgiving the marketplace can end up being as soon as the financing goes out and the numbers need to deal with their own.