Nigerian Fintech Startup Okra Shuts Down After Raising Over $16 Million

Nigerian fintech company Okra has officially shut down operations, marking the end of one of the continent’s early pioneers in open banking technology. Co-founder and former CEO/CTO Fara Ashiru Jituboh has confirmed the company’s closure and has now taken on a new role as Head of Engineering at the British startup Kernel.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Jituboh left Okra in May 2025, just months after the company launched Nebula, its in-house cloud infrastructure product.

Nebula was introduced in late 2024 as a way to help Nigerian businesses deal with soaring cloud computing costs caused by the depreciation of the naira.

Okra, alongside companies like Nobus and Layer3, offered affordable, naira-based cloud alternatives to global giants such as AWS and Azure.

However, Jituboh explained that the high cost of cloud infrastructure, driven by currency fluctuations, became one of the company’s biggest financial challenges.

In a statement, Jituboh reflected on Okra’s journey: “The company made the decision to wind down operations in May. It was an incredible journey; we built impactful technology, worked with some of the biggest brands across the continent, and helped pioneer open banking in Africa.

I’m proud to have worked alongside some of the smartest and most talented people, and I’m deeply grateful for the community, customers, investors, and team who supported us over the past five years.”

Okra was founded in 2019 by Jituboh and David Peterside. The company’s main product was an API that enabled users to securely connect their bank accounts to third-party financial apps, laying the foundation for open banking in Africa.

Okra quickly gained attention and support, raising $1 million in pre-seed funding from TLcom Capital and another $3.5 million in a seed round led by Susa Ventures. In total, the startup raised more than $16.5 million from investors, though it is believed the actual amount could be even higher due to additional unannounced funding.

Despite rapid early growth, API usage increased by 175% in early 2020. Okra faced challenges as costs rose and competition increased. Co-founder David Peterside departed the company in 2022, and no official successor was announced after Jituboh’s exit.

Major Nigerian banks and platforms, including Renmoney, Branch, Bamboo, and AIICO Insurance, used Okra’s technology. The company also supported other developers in building digital-first financial products, helping to modernise Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem.

Jituboh’s decision to return to Nigeria and launch Okra was inspired by her own difficulties using fintech apps that didn’t connect with Nigerian banks, despite her international experience at companies like Canva, BMW, and JP Morgan.