Yet another crypto startup has succumbed to the challenges of the VUCA environment that we live in. This time, it is the turn of 2-year old Nigerian crypto payment startup, Lazerpay founded by then 19 year old CEO and co-founder, Njoku Emmanuel. It is shutting down.
It showed signs that it was swimming in troubled waters when it announced plans to lay off some staff last year. And now it is shutting down because it could not raise funds.
Njoku Emmanuel issued a statement via Twitter today stating that the company was ceasing operations.
According to him, “Today, we announce the difficult decision to cease operations at Lazerpay. Despite our team’s tireless efforts to secure the necessary funding to keep Lazerpay going, we were unable to close a successful fundraising round. We fought hard to keep the lights on as long as possible, but unfortunately, we are at a point where we need to shut down.”
In the statement, he talked about the successes the startup achieved during its short lifespan. The company enabled over 3000 businesses to accept payments in stable-coins all over the world.
He thanked partners, merchants, investors and team members that have supported the company throughout.
He called on merchants to withdraw their funds from the platform before the 30th of April using the Bank or crypto payout option.
Though the startup stated last year that its layoff last year was not connected to FTX demise, it was hit by the collateral damage. FTX death made VCs and investors shy away from crypto related investments. And with the paucity of funds hitting the crypto industry, it was just a matter of time that the startups would feel the impact.
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