Pivo, a Nigerian finance startup, has announced that it will cease operations.
The startup closed after raising $2 million in a seed round from Y Combinator, Ventures Platform, Mercy Corp Ventures, and over 15 other investors.
While a source confirmed the shutdown to TechCabal, the corporation declined to offer specifics, saying they will do so later.
Nkiru Amadi-Emina, the CEO, and Ijeoma Akwiwu, the COO, formed the company in July 2021. It offered financial services to small haulage and logistics firms in Nigeria’s supply chain.
Pivo raised a $100,000 pre-seed round from investors including Microtraction, FirstCheck Africa, and Rally Cap Ventures two months after its inception.
The business obtained a $2 million seed investment in November 2022 to expand its operations to East Africa and introduce new products surrounding payments, a major pain point for supply chain SMEs.
The startup’s two fintech verticals were Pivo Capital, a lending product, and Pivo Commercial, a commercial banking product.
The company claimed to have processed over $4 million through Pivo Business and disbursed over $3 million in loans through Pivo Capital in the year following its founding.
This follows an earlier claim that Zazuu, an African-focused fintech startup, has formally halted operations due to an inability to find new finance.
The startup announced its demise via a LinkedIn post, citing the difficulty in acquiring sufficient growth finance as the key reason for the collapse.
