By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian cryptocurrency and web3 company, Lazerpay, on Thursday announced that it has shut down its operations following its inability to raise additional funding, even as the founder rejected an unfavourable deal from an existing investor.
Last November, the company laid off some employees after the proposed lead investor for its seed round withdrew its interest due to the “market conditions and disagreement on terms”.
In a statement, Mr Njoku Emmanuel, founder and CEO of Lazerpay, said, “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; unfortunately, we are now at a point where we need to shut down,” he added.
Launched in 2021, Lazerpay allowed businesses to use its channels to accept crypto payments from their customers. It did this by integrating a collections widget in merchants’ apps and collect payments through a link.
But with the latest development, Mr Njoku has advised all Lazerpay merchants to withdraw their funds from the platform on or before April 30 using the bank or crypto payout options.
“We remain committed to helping our users transition smoothly and to ensuring that any outstanding matters are resolved,” he added.
Also, the company disclosed that its IP is available for sale.
The closure of the company founded by Mr Njoku as a teenager can be tied to the ripple effect of the FTX crisis.
Lazerpay was previously backed by Mr Shola Akinlade of Paystack, Nuwa Capital, Voltron Capital and Nestcoin.
However, following the collapse of FTX, Lazerpay’s lead investor, Nestcoin, downsized an undisclosed number of the company since it used FTX to save a “significant proportion of the stablecoin investment.”
During its two-year lifespan, the company claimed it enabled over 3,000 businesses globally. Lazerpay has also enabled merchants across more than 100 countries to convert crypto into fiat currency and vice versa.
The closure of more crypto-related businesses signifies that the industry may yet face more setbacks in a period where funding to African countries is drying up.
