In a year marked by countless funding rounds in Nigeria, global economic uncertainty, currency fluctuations, and persistent macroeconomic pressures, Nigeria’s startup ecosystem has demonstrated remarkable resilience.
As 2025 approaches its final quarter, some of the country’s most ambitious ventures have secured significant capital injections, signalling investor confidence in Nigeria’s potential.
Below, we list the top ten disclosed funding rounds in Nigeria for 2025, along with the investors behind them, offering insight into where capital is flowing, why, and what this could mean for the future of tech and innovation in the country.
2025’s Big-Ticket Funding Rounds — The Top 10
1. LemFi — $53 million (Series B)
Lead investor: Highland Europe
Other participants: Endeavor Catalyst, Left Lane Capital, Palm Drive Capital, Y Combinator
LemFi, a cross-border remittance and payments platform, landed the largest disclosed round among Nigerian startups in Q1 2025. The $53 million Series B is intended to fuel its aggressive expansion across Africa and Asia. LemFi claims it already processes over US$1 billion in monthly transfers across diaspora corridors in North America, Europe and emerging markets.
Backers such as Highland Europe and Y Combinator underscore the growing international appetite for African fintech, especially solutions that address diaspora remittances, which remain a key source of inflows for many African economies. For LemFi, this funding round positions it to scale infrastructure, broaden geographic reach, and possibly add new financial products.
2. Raenest — $11 million (Series A Extension)
Lead investor: QED Investors
Other participants: Norrsken22, Ventures Platform, P1 Ventures, Seedstars
Raenest, a payments platform targeting remote African workers, closed an $11 million Series A extension. The funds are intended for scaling across new African markets, improving treasury infrastructure, and ensuring compliance, critical for a startup operating across borders and dealing with currency volatility.
Raenest’s backers are a mix of global and African-focused investors, suggesting a belief that cross-border payroll and remote-work payment infrastructure is an area ripe for growth, especially as more Africans join the diaspora or engage in remote jobs abroad.
3. Moniepoint — $90 million (Venture Round)
Lead investors: Visa, Development Partners International (DPI), LeapFrog Investments, Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, Verod Capital Management
October 2025 saw Moniepoint raise a major $90 million round. The funding explosion was so significant that it accounted for over 96 % of the total disclosed funding raised across Nigeria in that month alone.
Moniepoint is widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s flagship fintechs, offering payment services, SME banking, and digital financial infrastructure. The fresh capital will likely support expansion of its payments network, SME lending, and banking-as-a-service infrastructure, reinforcing its ambition to deepen financial inclusion for Nigeria’s informal sector.
4. SeamlessHR — $9 million (Series A Extension)
Lead investors: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Helios Ventures
SeamlessHR, an enterprise HR-tech platform, managed to close a $9 million round aimed at enhancing its payroll automation, workforce analytics, and compliance features for African enterprises.
This investment emphasises growing investor interest beyond fintech: enterprise software solutions such as HR, payroll, and compliance tools are also gaining traction, in part because many African businesses remain manual in internal operations. SeamlessHR’s funding underlines that there is demand for tools designed to support organisational growth and formalisation.
5. Mansa — $7 million (Debt Funding) & $3 million (Seed)
Mansa attracted a total of $10 million through a combination of a $7 million debt round (from institutional investors) and a separate $3 million seed equity round.
The dual financing strategy suggests Mansa is balancing growth and liquidity expansion with capital efficiency. In a funding environment where investors are more cautious, debt financing can offer a way to expand credit operations without diluting equity, while the seed round supports product development and initial growth. Mansa’s backers show belief in fintech-led credit and lending tools and their potential for profitability, even in challenging macroeconomic conditions.
6. Rivy (formerly PayHippo) — $4 million (Pre-Series A)
Rivy raised $4 million to support its pivot from traditional lending to clean energy financing for SMEs. The round, split between $2 million equity (co-led by EchoVC and Shell’s All On) and $2 million debt from Nigerian lenders reflects increasing investor interest in sustainable infrastructure and clean-energy access.
Rivy’s shift is significant. By targeting small businesses with clean energy financing, it is tapping into a growing demand for reliable and affordable power, a challenge that has long plagued many SMEs in Nigeria and across Africa.
7. Accrue — $1.58 million (Seed Round)
Fintech startup Accrue, working on crypto-linked payments infrastructure, raised $1.58 million in a seed round led by Lattice Fund and supported by other investors.
Although small relative to other rounds on this list, Accrue’s funding reflects a broader trend: early-stage fintech and payment infrastructure startups continue to attract capital, especially those experimenting with alternative payment rails, crypto-linked payments, and innovation around digital finance.
8. SunFi — $1 million (Venture Round)
Clean-energy startup SunFi secured a $1 million funding round to finance solar installations for off-grid households and small businesses. Investors included Ventures Platform, Delta40 and Kaleo Ventures.
The round may seem modest at a glance, but for a cleantech firm operating in Nigeria’s challenging infrastructure environment, this funding could be enough to kick off pilot deployments, attract local partners, and deliver real alternative power solutions to underserved areas.
9. Agriarche — $0.5 million (Debt Financing)
Agritech firm Agriarche closed a $500,000 debt financing deal with Sahel Capital, targeting expansion of its storage network and improving logistics for agricultural produce ahead of planting seasons.
This deal underscores growing investor attention to agritech and food-supply innovation. With Nigeria’s large population and significant agricultural workforce, logistics and supply-chain improvements can yield high social and economic impact and Agriarche is positioning itself accordingly.
10. Other Notable Deals
Beyond the top nine, several early-stage or smaller-scale deals received attention, such as additional seed rounds to startups focusing on payments, logistics, agritech and energy. These deals hint at a deepening pipeline, as more founders launch ventures and test solutions in sectors beyond fintech.
What the Big 10 Reveal: Sectors, Patterns & Investor Sentiment
Fintech Still Dominates But Other Sectors Are Gaining Traction
Unsurprisingly, fintech remains the single most funded sector. Platforms such as LemFi, Raenest, Moniepoint, Accrue, and Mansa received over half of the total disclosed capital across top deals, reflecting investor belief in payments, cross-border remittances, SME banking, and credit infrastructure. This trend is consistent with Nigeria’s rising digital-finance adoption and the large informal sector often overlooked by traditional banking.
However, 2025 is also showing signs of diversification. Clean energy (SunFi, Rivy), agritech (Agriarche), and enterprise SaaS (SeamlessHR) are starting to attract meaningful investments. This signals a maturation of the ecosystem, investors are beginning to look beyond payments to infrastructural and operational gaps that hinder scaling across Africa.
Debt Funding on the Rise
Another notable pattern: several rounds combined equity with debt financing (Rivy, Mansa), or were purely debt-based (Agriarche). This suggests a shift toward capital structures that are less dilutive and possibly more flexible, as investors and founders navigate macroeconomic uncertainty and foreign exchange risk.
International and Local Investors — A Healthy Mix
Big-name global investors such as Visa, Highland Europe, QED Investors, and Y Combinator share the stage with African-focused funds like Ventures Platform, EchoVC, Kaleo Ventures, and Sahel Capital. This blend demonstrates continued foreign confidence in Nigeria’s tech potential, complemented by growing domestic or regional capital willing to back early- and growth-stage ventures.
Resilience Amid Macro Headwinds
2025 has not been easy: Nigeria continues to face inflation, FX volatility, interest-rate pressure, and broader global economic headwinds. Yet, the startup ecosystem managed to raise over US$100 million in Q1 alone.
Furthermore, a recent report ranks Nigeria third among African countries in startup funding for 2025 (so far), behind only Egypt and South Africa.
These results reflect a growing maturity: investors are increasingly willing to commit capital to Nigerian startups, confident that founders understand local challenges and are building solutions tailored to Africa’s realities.
What’s Not in the Public Record (Yet)
While the top-10 funding list reveals where the money is going, it is important to note what remains largely hidden:
- Undisclosed rounds: Many seed and pre-seed deals go unreported; thus, upcoming but nascent startups may not show up in public datasets.
- Convertible notes and grants: A good number of early-stage ventures rely on convertible notes, grants, or non-dilutive capital that rarely enters public funding rankings.
- Informal-sector ventures: Nigeria’s informal sector is vast and under-served, many micro-businesses or small operators adopt bootstrapped or revenue-first models that may never raise equity funding. Their impact may be significant, but they remain off the radar of reporting platforms.
Because of these gaps, any public “top-10” list should be taken as a partial snapshot, useful for spotting trends, but incomplete in capturing the full breadth of innovation in the country.
Looking Ahead: What to Watch in 2026 and Beyond
1. Growth in Climate Tech, Energy Access & Infrastructure Solutions
With notable 2025 investments in clean energy (SunFi, Rivy, possibly soon others), more capital is likely to flow into climate-tech, off-grid power, energy-as-a-service, and infrastructure solutions. As Nigeria and other African nations continue to grapple with unreliable electricity supply, such ventures may become increasingly attractive to investors.
2. More Hybrid Funding Structures (Equity + Debt)
Given macroeconomic risks (inflation, FX volatility), founders may increasingly favour debt or revenue-based financing over pure equity to avoid dilution and preserve financial flexibility. This could reshape how early- and growth-stage funding operates in Nigeria, especially as debt markets and impact investors mature.
3. Rise of Enterprise SaaS, HR Tech, and Back-office Tools
The success of SeamlessHR suggests growing demand for enterprise-level tools, especially as more Nigerian companies formalise operations, grow headcounts, or comply with regulation and compliance demands. We can expect more SaaS companies focused on logistics, payroll, HR, compliance, operations, and other non-fintech verticals to emerge.
4. Increased Role for African & Local Investors
While global capital remains important, local and regional funds, familiar with on-the-ground realities, currency risk, and regulatory environment are likely to play a bigger role. Impact investors, development finance institutions, and African VCs could provide critical early funding and patient capital.
5. Continued Fintech Innovation, Especially around Remittances and Diaspora Flows
As diaspora remittances remain a key source of foreign exchange and household income across Africa, startups like LemFi and Raenest will likely continue to draw interest. Expect expansions into payroll for remote workers, cross-border transfers, stable-coin remittances, and fintech infrastructure that bridges Africa with global economies.
Why 2025 Matters — A Turning Point for Nigeria’s Tech Ecosystem
2025 could mark a watershed year in Nigeria’s startup history. After years of hype, structural headwinds, and cautious capital flows, the country’s ecosystem finally seems to be entering a new phase, which is scaling with substance.
Funding amounts are no longer token seed rounds, they are growth capital likely to fuel expansion, product development, and international reach. Investors are backing companies with real traction, clear business models, and growing demand; not just speculative ideas.
Crucially, the diversification beyond payments shows that founders are thinking long-term. Technologies built to solve real domestic problems, and adapt to local realities, are finally getting funding.
For Nigeria, this could translate to stronger digital infrastructure, more formalised businesses, improved access to finance and services, and a growing generation of home-grown companies capable of competing globally.
Conclusion
The top 10 funding rounds of 2025 paint an increasingly vibrant and diversified picture of Nigeria’s tech startup landscape. At a time when global investors are more selective than ever, the fact that these home-grown startups can attract significant capital is a sign of both confidence and potential.
From cross-border payment systems to clean energy and enterprise software, the range of backed sectors signals that Nigeria is no longer just a fintech story, but a fertile ground for broad innovation.
If macroeconomic headwinds can be managed and regulatory clarity improved, Nigeria’s startup ecosystem could be on the cusp of a renaissance, one that redefines not just where capital flows, but where real economic impact happens.
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