Startup Failures in Nigeria

The Y Combinator startup solving Africa's invisibility in global genomics — until the funding ran out

The Nigerian neobank raised $55M at $500M and was forced into a devastating down round as Nigeria's economy collapsed

Nigeria's retail investing app got regulated out of existence before going viral.

Nigerian agent banking startup Kudi was swallowed whole in OPay and PalmPay's subsidy war.

Africa's most valuable fintech startup hit by money laundering investigations and sexual harassment allegations simultaneously

Nigeria's digital lender Carbon shut its Kenya expansion as COVID defaults piled up.

Nigeria's alternative credit scorer couldn't outlast bad debt and regulatory walls.

Africa's travel booking vertical died to make Jumia's IPO paperwork look cleaner.

Nigeria's second-largest e-commerce unicorn sold for a reported $10M after $73M raised — Africa's biggest startup write-off

Lagos's mobile advertising platform couldn't survive Facebook and Google's African mobile ad dominance

Nigerian B2B FMCG distribution platform retreated as naira crisis destroyed retailer purchasing power

Pan-African payments app raised $32M and shut down in 2022 unable to close Series B

Goldman-backed Nigerian trucking marketplace raised $30M to be the Uber Freight of Africa — then collapsed under the weight of the continent it tried to connect

Nigerian B2B FMCG distribution startup that raised $2M and was killed by naira devaluation.

A Nigerian edtech startup backed by Novastar that could not reach sustainable unit economics before its runway expired.

Nigerian crypto exchange that froze customer withdrawals in 2023 following a security breach, stranding millions of dollars of customer funds.

Nigerian AI credit scorer wiped out by naira devaluation and CBN lending caps

Off-grid solar pioneer for Sub-Saharan Africa raised $200M and still could not escape the economics of serving the unelectrified.

Zambian mobile money pioneer raised $37M to bank the unbanked and was crushed when the mobile operators launched their own money products.

Nigerian electricity token marketplace stalled as grid instability destroyed demand predictability

The Nigeria B2B consumer goods distribution startup raised $110M from Tiger Global and Lightrock to digitize FMCG supply chains and became a zombie when naira devaluation and NPLs compounded its losses.

Nigerian SME lending platform raised $8M but default rates overwhelmed lending economics

Nigerian trucking marketplace retreated as naira collapse made operations unviable

Nigerian 30-minute grocery delivery startup that ran dry before break-even

Lagos B2B ecommerce for informal grocery retailers that raised $15M from TLcom Capital before running into the same unworkable credit and cold chain economics that destroyed the category.

A Nigerian SMB neobank that raised $1.7M and then struggled to survive Nigeria currency crises and central bank disruptions.

African restaurant POS startup found informal eatery owners unwilling to pay SaaS fees

Nigerian same-day delivery startup crushed between fuel costs and Bolt/Uber competition

Lagos's coding bootcamp couldn't build a sustainable ISA model in Nigeria's graduate unemployment landscape

Nigeria's enterprise AI startup destroyed by naira collapse and AWS payment freezes

Nigerian agricultural crowdfunding platform collapsed after failing to pay farmers and investors

Nigeria B2B FMCG distribution startup backed by Matrix Partners India that raised $10M before mass layoffs exposed the informal retailer credit model as unworkable.

Uber for tractors in Africa hit a growth ceiling at a fraction of its potential

Nigerian savings and investment platform hollowed out by naira devaluation and inflation

Nigerian embedded lending platform that raised $72M to put credit inside telco and bill payment apps.

West Africa digital freight platform backed by TLcom and Frontier Car Group that raised $30M to digitize informal trucking before unit economics and naira devaluation forced it to scale back.

Nigerian B2B payment infrastructure for SMEs — CBN policy shifts destroyed the model

Gokada built Lagos biggest motorcycle ride-hailing app and was growing fast — then the Lagos government banned commercial motorcycles overnight with 48 hours notice

Lagos's social commerce app couldn't survive Jumia and Konga's marketplace dominance