Just a few years ago, Okra stood tall as one of Nigeria’s most promising fintech startups. It embodied all the right ingredients for a success story: visionary leadership, Silicon Valley investment, fast-growing revenue, and a mission to build Africa’s financial data infrastructure.

Founded in 2020 by Fara Ashiru Jituboh and David Peterside, Okra set out to become the continent’s dominant open banking API provider. Its rapid rise captivated industry watchers, but by mid-2025, the dream began to unravel. In what has become one of the most surprising turnarounds in Nigeria’s fintech narrative, Okra has now wound down major parts of its business.

So, what really happened?

An Unmatched Ascent: From Idea to Industry Leader

Okra was never just another tech company. It attracted top engineers and business leaders from global giants like Google, Mastercard, PayPal, and Disney. With Fara Ashiru leading engineering and Peterside spearheading business strategy, the startup quickly built a reputation for being sharp, bold, and disruptive.

By 2021, Okra had secured $4.5 million in funding through pre-seed and seed rounds led by TLCom and Susa Ventures. Its investors included heavyweights like Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, Sequoia Capital Scouts, and Accenture Ventures — marking Accenture’s first venture into Africa.

The company’s revenue model — charging clients per API call — proved effective. In just a year, Okra hit $1 million in annual recurring revenue. That momentum secured it a quiet $12 million Series A round in early 2022, led by Base10, valuing the firm at $92 million.

At its peak, Okra provided infrastructure to top Nigerian institutions like UBA, Access Bank, Interswitch, MTN, Paga, Bamboo, and Trove. Even some government agencies relied on its API layer to access and process financial data.

Observers often credited Okra’s meteoric rise to its sharp go-to-market (GTM) execution under Peterside’s leadership. One insider described the GTM team as moving “like a military unit.” They famously edged out rival Mono for a critical InterSwitch deal, despite Mono’s lead salesperson having deep internal ties at InterSwitch.

The Internal Rift: Growth Outpaced Execution

Despite its bright outlook, cracks began to emerge following the Series A raise. Peterside reportedly grew frustrated with the engineering team’s inability to match the GTM team’s pace. While the sales side continued closing high-value contracts, the engineering side struggled to implement them efficiently — particularly because of its reliance on screen scraping, which limited scalability.

Tensions between the co-founders eventually came to a head. Peterside exited the company in October 2022 to pursue a new venture. His departure left a major gap in Okra’s GTM engine — a gap the company struggled to fill.

Without Peterside and amid mounting infrastructure challenges, Okra’s growth began to stall. Revenues shrank, implementation timelines faltered, and the business became increasingly stretched.

A Pivot That Couldn’t Save the Ship

In a bid to survive, Ashiru pivoted the company towards offering cloud infrastructure under the brand Nebula. The idea was bold: build a local cloud service, priced in naira, tailored to African compliance needs. But this pivot didn’t deliver the expected traction.

The macroeconomic climate only made things worse. The naira’s depreciation drove up operational costs, especially for a company heavily reliant on cloud computing and international vendor services. With pressure mounting and no scalable breakthrough from the cloud pivot, Okra eventually ran out of runway.

By mid-2025, Okra shut down operations, offering employees six months of severance. In a farewell statement, Ashiru acknowledged the journey: “It was an incredible ride. We built impactful technology, partnered with major brands, and helped pioneer open banking in Africa.”

Not the First to Fall: A Pattern Emerges

Okra’s collapse mirrors a growing trend of African tech startups shuttering despite strong early momentum. In 2022, Kenya’s Sendy closed shop after raising $20 million. In 2023, 54gene, once valued at over $150 million, folded amid internal crises. In 2024, Nigerian fintech startup Thepeer shut down, citing compliance hurdles and limited digital wallet adoption, just two years after its $2.1 million seed round.

Even Kune Food, a Kenyan startup aiming to revolutionize food delivery, folded within a year of raising $1 million, blaming high burn rates and operational inefficiencies.

Okra’s Next Chapter: All Hope Not Lost

Though cloud operations under Nebula have ceased, Ashiru hinted that Okra may not be entirely dead. She has since joined UK-based Kernel as Head of Engineering, but a recent LinkedIn update suggests that Okra is undergoing internal restructuring and will refocus on payments.

A company statement confirmed this direction: “We’re streamlining operations and doubling down on our payments infrastructure to ensure sustainable growth moving forward.”

Industry analysts interpret this as a strategic reset rather than a full shutdown. While Okra’s grand open banking ambitions may have been paused, its payments business might still hold promise — if realigned with market realities.

Industry Reactions: What Went Wrong, and What Can Be Learned

Paul Ogunedo, CEO of AWI Energies, believes Okra’s journey deserves recognition: “They were early, they were bold, and they laid a foundation. In Africa’s tech ecosystem, we must honour those who dared to try, even when they don’t cross the finish line.”

Ogunedo also criticised the pivot to cloud infrastructure, calling it poorly timed in a volatile currency environment. “With naira depreciation, running a cloud business locally became prohibitively expensive.”

Mr. Bashir Are, CEO of the Lagos State Lotteries & Gaming Authority, compared Okra’s fate to early U.S. tech firms like Digex and Exodus Communications, which shut down before cloud services took off. “Okra’s idea was ahead of its time,” he said. “Their collapse may pave the way for the next AWS or Azure built for Africa.”

Tech lawyer Favour Ibe offered a legal perspective. “Okra’s closure highlights the weak legal infrastructure many African startups suffer from,” she noted. “Exit options remain limited. Messy cap tables, weak IP protection, and unclear shareholder agreements hurt long-term prospects.”

The State of Open Banking: Who Will Fill the Void?

Okra’s sudden departure has created a leadership vacuum in Nigeria’s open banking space. While Mono was once a close competitor, it has shifted focus toward its consumer-facing product, OWO, and pulled back from core open banking services.

As it stands, few players are positioned to step in and fill Okra’s role. The fintech ecosystem now looks to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which has pledged to launch a national open banking framework by August 2025.

If implemented effectively, such a policy could revive investor confidence and provide a solid regulatory foundation for a new generation of fintech innovators.

Conclusion: Okra’s Story Is Far from Over

Okra’s trajectory is a cautionary tale — but also a source of critical lessons. Vision, capital, and momentum are not enough without execution, scalability, and resilience to macroeconomic shocks. Yet, in many ways, Okra succeeded: it built technology that mattered, helped shape policy conversations, and inspired a generation of African fintech builders.

Whether Okra eventually makes a comeback or remains a valuable chapter in Nigeria’s fintech history, one thing is clear: the race to build Africa’s financial rails is far from over — and the next big players are already watching, learning, and preparing to take their shot.