Nigerian Fintech Startup Shuts Down After Raising $2.1 Million

• Thepeer, a Nigerian fintech startup, has announced that it is shutting its operations
• The announcement came almost two years after it raised $2.1 million in a Seed round
• The startup said that it faces challenges associated with compliance issues that hindered it from execution

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over three years of experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

Nigerian fintech startup Thepeer is shutting its operations nearly two years after raising $2.1 million in a Seed round.

In a statement on its website, the founders cited compliance issues that hindered it from launching key wallet providers.

Chike Ononye (CEO) and Michael Okoh (CTO) also blamed the slow acceptance of wallets as a viable payment option, hence, causing the diversifying resources into enlightenment.

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They said:

“Faced with these challenges, we needed to make a key decision either to do a hard pivot, an M&A or return capital to investors. After carefully weighing our options, we decided that returning the remaining capital to investors was the best decision.

“We could not align our product with the market's needs at our current size and scale. What does this mean for our customers? Thepeer will be placed on maintenance mode for the interim. We'll work to maintain the platform for as long as possible until we discover a new home for it.”

The Nigerian tech infrastructure startup that facilitates easy money transfers between companies raised a $2.1 million seed round in 2021, according to TechCabal.

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This round of funding came less than a year after it raised a $220,000 pre-seed round from angel investors, including Paystack’s co-founder and CTO, Ezra Olubi, and Edenlife’s co-founder and CTO, Prosper Otemuyiwa.

Thepeer is an API-based startup that helps its clients—mostly fintechs and small- to medium-sized companies—to enable their own clients to fund their accounts from other companies, transfer money across their various wallets, and easily pay for goods from their wallets.

Ananlysts said have blamed the challenging business environment for the increasing closure of business in recent times.

Charles Abuede, a financial analyst said,

"The depicted scenario is indicative of various interconnected factors. Notably, the challenging business environment in Nigeria, characterized by unfriendly conditions due to multiple taxation issues, poses a significant obstacle to ease of doing business."

Another Nigerian fintech startup shuts down

Legit.ng reported that Pivo, a Nigerian startup fintech firm, has announced that it is shutting down operations.

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The closure comes after the company raised $2 million in a seed round from Y Combinator, Ventures Platform, Mercy Corp Ventures, and over 15 other investors.

While a source confirmed the closure to TechCabal, the company declined to provide specific details but said that will be done later.

Source: Legit.ng