Nigerian fintech startup Okra has shut down operations after five years of pioneering open finance in Africa. The news follows the quiet exit of co-founder and CTO Fara Ashiru Jituboh, who left in May 2025 to join UK-based Kernel as Head of Engineering.
“The company made the decision to wind down operations in May,” Jituboh told Techpoint Africa. “It was an incredible journey; we built impactful technology, worked with some of the biggest brands across the continent… I’m deeply grateful for the community, customers, investors, and team who supported us over the past five years.”
Founded in 2019 by Jituboh and David Peterside, Okra set out to enable secure banking data sharing through APIs. Their technology allowed users to connect their bank accounts with fintech apps, a game-changer at the time. Okra helped power services for brands like Renmoney, Branch, AIICO Insurance, and Bamboo.
Jituboh’s frustration with local fintech apps led her to return to Nigeria after roles at Canva, BMW, and JP Morgan. She wanted better tools for everyday financial management, and Okra was her solution.
In its early years, the startup grew fast. API usage jumped 175% in early 2020. Backed by investors like TLcom Capital and Susa Ventures, Okra raised over $16.5 million in total funding.
But challenges mounted. Nigeria’s volatile currency and soaring cloud service costs became major obstacles. To cope, Okra launched Nebula in October 2024, a homegrown cloud infrastructure solution. The product was meant to help Nigerian firms cut cloud costs, which had ballooned due to FX issues. Still, that move wasn’t enough to keep the company afloat.
While Peterside left in 2022, no replacement was announced for Jituboh. Her exit, along with Okra’s closure, signals the end of one of Nigeria’s most ambitious fintech stories. One that helped lay the groundwork for open banking across the continent.
