Its cloud infrastructure product, Nebula, is also no more. And with both gone, one of the continent’s most ambitious tech stories has come to a quiet and unexpected end.

Okra Introduces Nebula: Africa’s Own Cloud Solution

The company, which raised over $16 million from global investors, officially ceased operations in May 2025. Fara Ashiru Jituboh, the co-founder and former CEO/CTO, confirmed the closure in a statement to Techpoint Africa:

“The company made the decision to wind down operations in May. It was an incredible journey; we built impactful technology, worked with some of the biggest brands across the continent, and helped pioneer open banking in Africa. I’m proud to have worked alongside some of the smartest and most talented people, and I’m deeply grateful for the community, customers, investors, and team who supported us over the past five years.”

Jituboh has since moved on to take up a new position as head of Engineering at the UK-based startup, Kernel, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Her exit followed a series of quiet internal changes at Okra, including the departure of her co-founder, David Peterside, in 2022. Since then, no successor was publicly named, and by mid-2025, the startup was already off the radar of most in the ecosystem.

Founded in 2019, Okra set out to do something few African startups dared; build the core infrastructure powering open finance. Its APIs enabled users to link their Nigerian bank accounts to third-party applications in real time, offering services from identity verification to income and transaction data sharing.

That initiative attracted early backing, including $1 million from TLcom Capital and a $3.5 million seed round led by Susa Ventures, eventually pushing total funding beyond $16.5 million.

But scale didn’t guarantee survival. In October 2024, in response to high foreign exchange costs that made services like AWS and Azure increasingly expensive, Okra launched Nebula, a naira-denominated cloud platform aimed at local businesses.

Designed to offer Tier 3 and Tier 4 data centres, compliant with African data regulations and billed in local currency, Nebula was intended to reduce dependence on costly international services. It was an aggressive bet on infrastructure, competing against the likes of Nobus and Layer3.

However, tech giants quickly responded by enabling local billing and slashing prices, with AWS and Microsoft reportedly cutting rates by up to 20%. With that, any price advantage Nebula hoped to offer was gone, and customer adoption remained underwhelming.

By March 2025, Jituboh publicly admitted what many in tech were privately whispering, cloud expenses had become unsustainable: salaries aside, server costs were swallowing most of Okra’s revenue. 

The competitive space added further challenges. Startups such as Mono and Stitch, which raised $17.6 million and $52 million respectively, raced ahead in distribution, partnerships, and product sophistication. These rivals had deeper war chests and were able to move faster, often capturing the very market segments Okra once aimed for.

With no external capital infusion publicly announced after 2021, and an economic environment that continued to worsen, the signs were there. Few noticed.

What’s perhaps most notable is how quietly it all ended. No press release or farewell post. Just an update on LinkedIn and a quote to a reporter. For a company that once called itself the “Plaid of Africa,” it was a soft landing that belied the size of its dreams.

Before founding Okra, Jituboh had worked at Canva, BMW, and JP Morgan. She returned to Nigeria to solve a problem she’d experienced first-hand, fintech apps that didn’t connect to local banks. 

Okra’s solution was commendable, building the rails of open finance. And for a while, it worked. Its API usage surged by 175% in early 2020. Partnerships with platforms like Renmoney, Branch, Bamboo, and AIICO Insurance came quickly. Regulators took notice, investors followed.

But between currency depreciation, infrastructure strain, and the leadership vacuum post-2022, Okra’s speed slowly faded. The fintech space had grown more crowded and more difficult. Scaling in Africa without a deep-pocketed backer or profitable model remains a fierce challenge.

Okra’s closure repeats the fact that startups need staying power, but in Nigeria’s current economic situation, even the brightest ideas are fighting for breath.

Walking into the cloud infrastructure space with Nebula, Okra aims to provide a more affordable, local alternative to global giants like AWS and Microsoft Azure, tapping into the growing demand for homegrown solutions. 

This development comes at a time when Nigerian companies are seeking to cut costs associated with foreign services, especially with the devaluation of the naira and rising foreign exchange pressures.

Nebula was built to allow businesses pay in local currencies like the naira, eliminating the unpredictable exchange rates associated with dollar-denominated cloud services. 

The service also comes with lower latency, Tier 3 and Tier 4 data centres, and strong compliance with African data regulations. Okra’s CEO, Fara Ashiru, highlighted these features in a LinkedIn post, describing Nebula as an important tool for businesses looking to streamline operations without the burden of foreign exchange exposure. 

This move into cloud infrastructure is a huge one for Okra, whose origins lie in the open-banking sector. The company has gradually evolved, discontinuing some of its earlier products as it repositions itself to tap into new revenue streams. 

With the introduction of Nebula, Okra joins other Nigerian cloud providers such as Nobus and Layer3, which have also gained traction due to local companies’ growing desire to reduce their reliance on global cloud providers. 

The 2019 National Cloud Computing Policy, which encourages Nigerian government agencies to use local cloud providers, has further boosted the potential for these services.

Nebula’s features include secure, scalable, and compliant infrastructure, with a focus on a developer-friendly interface and real-time billing that ensures transparency in usage and cost. 

The platform offers various tools to assist businesses in deploying websites, apps, and workflows effortlessly. Its integration of local payment options is a significant selling point, making it easier for African companies to budget their cloud expenses without worrying about fluctuating foreign currencies.

Africa is looking inward for technological solutions, and Okra’s Nebula shows a growing shift towards self-sufficiency, with locally-built products designed to meet the continent’s unique needs. 

This cloud service, alongside other local initiatives, seeks to provide a competitive alternative to the costly services traditionally imported from the West.

Backed by TLcom, Okra aims to provide a cost-effective and reliable alternative to foreign cloud providers like AWS and Azure. 

This expansion comes as local startups seek to cut costs due to the rising inflation and high interest rates. 

Okra’s latest development is a change from its original focus on providing APIs that allow banks and financial service providers to access customer data. With this new cloud infrastructure, Okra seeks to support businesses in hosting data and running workloads efficiently. 

This expansion places Okra among a growing group of local cloud service providers in Nigeria, including Nobus Cloud Services, MainOne Cloud, Web4Africa, Galaxy Backbone, and Layer3 Cloud. 

These companies are rising to meet the demands of startups, large businesses, and government agencies looking for reliable cloud solutions.

Okra’s initial focus on open finance, where its APIs enabled third-party financial service providers to responsibly access bank information, faced challenges due to a relatively small market and significant competition. 

The fintech sector in Nigeria is also influenced by the Central Bank’s open banking regulations, adopted in March 2024. However, the absence of common data-sharing standards has limited the market for open finance APIs. Despite these challenges, Okra has been working to standardize banks’ APIs to improve the reliability of its services.

Okra is addressing the growing needs of Nigerian startups and other businesses for affordable and dependable cloud solutions.

The headline session will feature a fireside conversation with Julia Collins, who will share valuable insights on her experience as a successful serial tech entrepreneur. The event is expected to be the largest gathering of women in tech in Africa.

With the current global macroeconomic environment in mind, the theme for the 2023 Africa Tech Female Founder Summit is Building Resilience: Adapting to New Realities, which addresses head on the challenges African founders and operators are currently facing, as well as providing timely and practical advice and support from experienced global and African business leaders.

Julia Collins, the first black woman to build a unicorn, will give this year’s keynote, as well as host a masterclass session on Getting to Product Market Fit.

Julia is now building Planet FWD, a leading decarbonization platform for consumer companies.

She will be joined on the day by Cikü Mugambi [Kobo360], Enas Siam [FlexStock], and Thomas Njeru [Pula], who will hold a panel on “When the going gets tough”, whilst Tokunbo Ishmael [Alithea Capital] will discuss the Importance of Investing in Women.

In addition, this year, the Africa Tech Female Founder Summit will host a number of masterclasses held by TLcom Partners such as Eloho Omame, as well as a special focus on Building and leveraging Networks by leading Executive Visibility expert Glory Edozien.

Having hosted the summit with 150+ African female founders and operators in Nairobi in 2022, this year sees the event move west to Lagos, Nigeria.

Applications to attend the event are now open.  

Speaking on the upcoming event, Omobola Johnson, Senior Partner at TLcom Capital, says,

“2023 has been a challenging year for founders across the continent, so this year we will be gathering our community of women in tech in Africa to share experiences, learn from experts in their fields and develop coping tactics that will help build resilient businesses to weather this current climate. We want to discuss in depth what resilience means and how it can be infused into businesses, their leaders, and their teams.” 

Andreata Muforo, Partner at TLcom Capital, adds,

“At this year’s Africa Tech Female Founder Summit, we will not only be discussing business survival but also business growth; there are opportunities for founders, even during more turbulent economic times. We’re excited to be hosting the continent’s largest gathering of women in tech, bringing some truly experienced and inspiring speakers to the table. We want all attendees to leave with not only a vision and renewed sense of community support but also with actionable insights that will benefit their businesses”.  

TLcom’s TIDE Africa Fund II, which is one of the most active funds across Africa, boasts a leadership team which is 60% female.

The firm has actively supported female founders not only through its annual summit but notably through its track record of investing in some of Africa’s top female-led startups, such as Okra and Pula. In 2022, TLcom also doubled down on its drive to address the severe funding gap for Africa’s female tech entrepreneurs with a co-investment commitment to support the launch of FirstCheck Africa’s debut fund.

Currently, TLcom manages total commitments of approximately $350mn and holds several African startups in its portfolio, including Andela, Ajua, Autochek, Ilara Health, Kobo360, Okra, Pastel, Pula, Seamless HR, Shara, Terragon Group, Twiga Foods, uLesson and Vendease.

With an on-the-ground presence in Kenya and Nigeria as well as offices in the UK, the firm invests across all stages of the venture capital cycle with a focus on Seed and Series A.

TLcom also invests across a wide range of industries, including agriculture, education, fintech, data analytics and logistics, targeting high-growth, tech-enabled startups across Africa.

Spotify launched in South Africa in 2018 and in 38 more African countries in 2021. Okumu believes that Spotify is growing alongside its young population and is “resonating with a youthful audience… in a continent that is diverse as Africa. We needed to make sure that the product was custom-made for the region.”

Okumu acknowledges the musical complexities of the continent, and adds that it is important to “know that the world is ready and read indicators like the popularity and growth of different genres from the continent becoming billboard hits in the US, for example.”

She continues, “We’ve seen such amazing success from artists like Wizkid, who is now a billboard artist, something that 10 years ago we might have only dreamed of. I think that’s also very much a result of what streaming is doing in the music world as a whole. It’s enabling discovery.”

According to Okumu, “a lot of Africa is unbanked and does not use credit cards”. To best cater to its new market, Spotify leveraged a partnership with M-PESA, a mobile payment service which is local to Kenya. “We are continuing to ensure that we partner with different service providers across the continent to make sure that the lifestyle of the audience that we want to court also makes sense to the product or makes sense with the product.”

The playlist African Heat is an example of a customised playlist that creates a taste of various African nations. This has enabled discovery for all music lovers across the world, “When you see them being reflected in global charts, then you know that it’s not just a story that we are telling ourselves, the success is global, it’s real, it’s exciting.”

In Nigeria, CNN meets Ife Durosinmi-Etti, founder and CEO of Herconomy, who shares the difficulties she faced when raising money for her business.

The World Bank says all-female start-ups received only 3% of the almost 2 billion dollar of investment going to African tech start-ups from 2013 to 2021. “What I’ve noticed in the tech space is that women are over mentored and underfunded. We need to do more to fund more women and ensure that their businesses actually grow from small businesses to big businesses,” says Durosinmi-Etti.

Fara Ashiru Jituboh, founder and CEO of Okra, raised 3.5 million dollars of venture capital (VC) funding in 2021. “Last year was one of the biggest funding years generally across the board. This last year, if you look at venture capital dollars into technology companies were over 5 billion, 2021 getting close to 6 billion,” she says.

Founder of Ingressive Capital, Maya Horgan Famodu believes that with the help of advancing technical contributions, talent, and infrastructure, “We’re seeing the version 4.0 of a typical emerging market technology ecosystem.”

She adds, “I don’t think there is necessarily a shortage of women technical talent across Africa. If you look at Nigeria, the requirement now for 30% plus of board members to be female. There are a ton of women owned funds [in Nigeria]. Almost every prominent VC in Nigeria has a female partner. If you have a bunch of female founded funds that are hanging out in diverse communities, then likely their portfolios will be reflective. We’re continuously seeing that materialise. There is a literal higher return on investment and higher IRR with diverse teams.”

Durosinmi-Etti concludes, “While funding is very difficult for women to get, some women are getting it and it is opening up. Things are changing.”

Horgan Famodu believes “We are all capable and we are all requisite. We’re all required to build a better Africa.”