In 2020, Nigerian startup Okra burst onto Africas fintech scene with an audacious promise: to become the super connector for open banking on the continent.
Co-founded by software engineer Fara Ashiru Jituboh and entrepreneur David Peterside, Okra positioned itself as the missing link between banks, fintechs, and millions of consumers, offering developers API tools to securely access real-time financial data. The pitch struck a chord with investors hungry for the next big fintech infrastructure play in Africa. By mid-2021, Okra had raised an eye-catching 16 million, backed by heavyweight names like TLcom Capital, Susa Ventures, and Accenture Venturesall betting that African fintech could leapfrog outdated banking systems with smart data pipes.
But just five years later, that promise ended in a quiet, sobering turn. In mid-2025, Okras API service disappeared without warning. There was no pivot announcement, no acquisition, and no farewell statementjust a silent fade that left clients, investors, and industry watchers asking: How does a startup with millions in backing and a globally relevant idea run out of steam so soon? The answer, many say, lies in a perfect storm of regulatory delays, market realities, and a brutal execution gap that turned the dream of open banking into an object lesson for Nigerias young fintech ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Jituboh, once hailed by Forbes as the queen of APIs, has moved on, now leading engineering at a UK startup called Kerne, as the dust settles on what could be one of Nigerias most instructive startup flameouts to date.
