Okra

What Okra does

Okra was a Lagos-based Nigerian fintech infrastructure company founded in 2020 that operated an open finance API platform. The platform enabled developers and fintech builders to access payment rails, mobile money networks, and banking infrastructure through code, allowing them to assemble payment, lending, and compliance products without negotiating direct corporate integrations. Okra positioned itself within an emerging African open finance ecosystem alongside peers such as Mono and Stitch, targeting a horizontal developer persona rather than end consumers.

The company raised approximately $16.5 million across three rounds: a $1 million seed in April 2020 led by TLcom Capital Partners, a $3.5 million round in April 2021 led by Susa Ventures with Accenture Ventures, Sequoia Scout, and TLcom participating, and a $12 million Series A in early 2022 led by Base10 Partners. No public disclosures of pricing model, revenue, ARR, customer count, or product unit economics are available in the source data. The company operated with 11-50 employees and served the West Africa region.

Okra ceased operations in 2025, reportedly after failing to close deals, and was grouped alongside other failed African startups including Medsaf and Edukoya in industry coverage of African startup shutdowns. The okra.ng domain currently resolves to a default cPanel server page, consistent with the site's decommissioning. No information is available regarding leadership transitions, restructuring attempts, or asset disposition prior to shutdown.

Name

Okra

Website

https://okra.ng

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Okra was a Lagos-based Nigerian fintech founded in 2020 that operated an open finance API platform enabling developers to access payment rails, mobile money networks, and banking infrastructure across West Africa. The company ceased operations in 2025.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Finance API Infrastructure

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSAMAFAA

Open Banking APIs & Connectivity

Financial & Insurance/Payments & Transaction Processing/Account-to-Account (A2A) & Open Banking Payments

SECONDARYBPAMAFAJ

Open Banking, Account Aggregation & Payment Initiation APIs

Business & Public Services/Web, Mobile & Digital Platforms/Payments, Wallets & Digital Banking Platforms

SECONDARYFSAGALAB

Embedded Payments (Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Wallets)

Financial & Insurance/Financial Technology (Fintech)/Embedded Finance & Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS)

Keywords

• Open finance API
• Financial infrastructure
• Payment rails access
• Developer fintech platform
• Banking API connectivity

Headquarters

HQ city

Lagos

HQ country

Nigeria

HQ region

Africa

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Core offering

Okra provided an open finance API platform that enabled developers to access payment rails, mobile money networks, and banking infrastructure to build payment, lending, and compliance products. The company operated as a fintech infrastructure layer serving the African market, allowing developers to write code against financial services rather than negotiate direct integrations with banks and mobile money operators.

Product overview

Okra is an open finance provider that offers an API platform enabling developers to build payment, lending, and compliance products by accessing financial infrastructure. The company operates as a fintech infrastructure provider, though specific named product modules or distinct product offerings are not detailed in the available sources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Okra Open Finance API

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Mono: Nigeria-based open banking API platform enabling developers to access bank account data and initiate payments. Explicitly grouped with Okra as a direct Nigerian open-finance competitor and the most relevant comparison point.
• Stitch: South African open finance and payments data platform offering financial account connectivity and payment initiation APIs across Africa. Explicitly named alongside Okra and Mono in the African open-finance category.
• Yapily: Open banking API platform providing account information and payment initiation connectivity to fintechs and banks. Closely aligned product offering and business model with Okra, serving European developers.

Broad incumbents

• Plaid: Global category-leading open banking connectivity platform. Operates in a much larger geography but is the canonical reference for the developer-first open-finance API business model Okra was attempting to replicate in Africa.
• TrueLayer: European open banking API provider covering account information and payment initiation. Comparable product architecture and target developer customer base to Okra, but operating at much greater scale in a more mature regulatory environment.
• Tink: Visa-owned European open banking platform offering account aggregation, payment initiation, and financial data services. Comparable technology stack to Okra but with incumbency, regulatory coverage, and Visa distribution behind it.
• Flutterwave: Pan-African payments infrastructure company that, while broader than Okra, competes in the same developer-facing payments-API ecosystem and represents the kind of scaled incumbent Okra would have needed to win against to survive.

Regional players

• Brankas: Southeast Asia-focused open finance API provider connecting banks, fintechs, and businesses. Operates in a different geography but pursues the same developer-facing open-banking connectivity model Okra targeted in Africa.

Emerging players

• Span: African fintech infrastructure provider offering open finance and embedded finance APIs across multiple African markets. Directly comparable product category and customer base to Okra in the African open-finance space.
• Bud: Open banking and consumer data aggregation platform used by banks and fintechs. Comparable product positioning around bank-data APIs, though focused on enrichment and personal finance rather than payment initiation.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/okra_HQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/okrahq

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Okra