Nigerian Crypto Startup, Lazerpay, Closes Operations Due To Failing To Raise Funds

JAKARTA - Nigerian crypto and Web3 company Lazerpay announced that it was closing operations on April 13. Lazerpay founder and CEO Emmanuel Njoku said in a statement on Twitter that the decision to close the company was made after they were unable to raise funds in the funding round.

The shutdown comes months after the company announced layoffs in November 2022 due to not being able to raise funds after major investors withdrew. Lazerpay helps businesses accept stablecoin payments from customers around the world.

Statement from Njoku Emmanuel, CEO and Co-Founder, Lazerpay. pic.twitter.com/UvBGMlKAgn

— Lazerpay Finance (@lazerpay) April 13, 2023

The company has focused on ensuring a smooth transition for its users by solving existing problems. To that end, it has been recommended that merchants use bank or crypto payment options and withdraw their funds from the platform before April 30, 2023. In addition, the company is inviting other companies to make offers to buy their intellectual ownership.

Njoku launched Lazerpay at a teenage age and founded the company with Abdulfatai Suleiman and Prosper Ubi in October 2021 to encourage global crypto adoption. According to Njoku, Lazerpay has added more than 3,000 businesses and processed more than $1 million in transactions.

However, some crypto payment startups on the African continent are still growing. For example, NairaEx is an active Bitcoin exchange in Nigeria that serves as media for Nigerian traders to buy or sell state fiat currencies, naira, with cryptocurrencies.