Okra
“Can a Nigeria-first open finance API become the data and payments backbone for African fintech before regulation arrives?”
Founded2019
HQLagos, Nigeria
FoundersFara Ashiru Jituboh, David Peterside
Total raised$4.5M+
Latest roundSeed, 2021
IndustryInfrastructure / Open banking
The story
Okra was founded in 2019 as Nigeria's first open banking infrastructure player — a 'Plaid for Africa' — providing APIs to connect bank accounts to fintech apps for identity, balance, transactions, income verification and bank-initiated payments. It rapidly attracted Nigerian fintech customers (FairMoney, Chaka, Interswitch, Umba, Paga, dLocal) and ISO 27001/22301/20000 certifications. However, despite raising ~$4.5M from TLcom, Susa and Accenture Ventures, PitchBook now lists Okra as 'Out of Business', reflecting the broader contraction of Nigerian open-banking infrastructure pre-CBN open-banking go-live.
Last 12 months
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Product timeline
2019
Founded in Lagos by Fara Ashiru Jituboh and David Peterside as Nigeria's first open banking / 'Plaid for Africa' API.· pivot
2020
Raised $1M pre-seed from TLcom Capital.· funding
2021
Raised $3.5M seed led by Susa Ventures with Accenture Ventures and TLcom.· funding
2023
Launched Bulk BVN Verification API for KYC at scale.· product
2024
Reportedly wound down / out of business per PitchBook.· pivot
The stack
Payments / PSP
Open banking
Accounting gap: none