Funding: How Nigerian Crypto Startups Fared In 2021 Despite CBN Ban
Crypto startups in Nigeria may be summed up in one word: resilient. Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria scything off their financial operations with Nigerian commercial banks in the wee hours of February this year, the year still proved eventful for the bulk of them, both in terms of funding and the transaction volumes handled.
For instance, according to Paxful and LocalBitcoins data, Bitcoin’s P2P transaction volume in Nigeria would have surpassed $38 million in June 2021, up 8.7% from May. This volume might really be larger, according to the sources, because it excludes transactions from other major platforms like Binance and Remitano.
Also during this period, Nigeria was, once again, rated the second country most interested in bitcoin just behind El Salvador, according to data from Google trends.
But how did the startups catering to this hunger to own or trade in cryptocurrency fare in terms of funding in the West African country? Below is a table showing which crypto startups raised funds (reported) in 2021.
| S/N | NAME | DESCRIPTION | COUNTRY | YEAR FOUNDED | AMOUNT RAISED | INVESTORS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Busha | Crypto exchange and investment management | Nigeria | 2018 | $4.2m | Cadenza Ventures, Blockwall Capital, CMT Digital, Greenhouse Capital, Raba Capital, etc. |
| 2 | Yellow Card | Crypto exchange | Nigeria | 2016 | $15m | Valar Ventures, Third Prime, Castle Island Ventures, Square, Blockchain.com Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, BlockFi, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership, MoonPay, GreenHouse Capital, etc. |
| 3 | African Blockchain Lab | Blockchain technology firm and the developer of the African crypto app VIBRA | Nigeria | 2021 | $6m | Lateral Frontiers VC, CRE Venture Capital, and Musha Ventures, as well as international blockchain investors Dragonfly Capital, Hashkey Capital, SNZ Capital, Fenbushi, Cadenza Capital, Head & Shoulder X, LeadBlock, Hash Global, Bonfire, Krypital, Despace, etc. |
| 4 | Payourse | Develops user-friendly products and solutions to help Africans accept cryptocurrency | Nigeria | 2019 | $600k | Micheal Ugwu, one of Africa’s largest NFT collectors, Flori Ventures, Olumide Soyombo’s Voltron Capital, and Allegory Capital; CELO co-founders Marek Olszewski and Rene Reinsberg, Kola Aina of Ventures Platform, Angel Touch Holdings, and Oluwatobi Anisere, etc. |
| 5 | Wicrypt | Blockchain-based WiFi sharing network | Nigeria | 2018 | $1.5m | Polygon creator Sandeep Nailwal, Cardano’s Occam, Inclusion Capital, Outlier Ventures, Chain Capital, Pluto Digital Assets, Onega Ventures, N7 Labs, and PolkaFoundary, etc. |
| 6 | Bitmama | Provides a secure blockchain infrastructure that allows users from all around Africa to conduct cryptocurrency transactions. | Nigeria | 2019 | $350k | Flori Ventures, Emergence Capital, Fedha Capital, etc. |
| 7 | Lazerpay | “Stripe” for crypto payments | Nigeria | 2021 | Undisclosed | Nestcoin, etc. |
| 8 | Nestcoin | Builds, operates and invests in crypto native products for everyday people | Nigeria | 2021 | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |
| 9 | AFEN Group | Uses blockchain technologies, specifically the Binance smart chain network, to provide solutions. | Nigeria | 2021 | $1m | Via NFT |
| 10 | Xend Finance | Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform for credit unions and cooperatives. | Nigeria | 2020 | $500k | NGC Ventures and HashKey. |
Nigerian crypto startups funding Nigerian crypto startups funding
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer