Lidya

Credit for small businesses

Epitaph

“Here lies Lidya. For nine years it lent working capital to small businesses across Nigeria and briefly beyond. Then its own books stopped balancing: refunds it could not process, loans it could not recover, founders it could not keep. The last account never settled.”

Overview

Born: 2016 (Year)
Died: October 2025 (Month)
Lifespan: 10 years
Fate: Shut down
Headquarters: 🇳🇬 Nigeria
Category: Fintech
Stage at death: Series B
Primary cause: Funding or runway
Contributing causes: Founder or team, Governance or fraud, Business model or unit economics

Death certificate

Timeline

2016Founding
Lidya founded by Jumia alumni Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin
2017Seed round
Lidya raised a $1.3 million seed round
2018Series A
Lidya raised a $6.9 million Series A
2021Pre-Series B
Lidya raised $8.3 million led by Alitheia Capital, and co-founder Eksin's departure was announced
2023Retreat to Nigeria
Lidya exited Poland and Czech Republic to refocus on its home market
October 2024Co-founder exit
Tunde Kehinde left the company
24 October 2025Shutdown
Lidya announced it was ceasing all operations, citing severe financial distress.

Autopsy report

Why did Lidya shut down?

Nigerian digital lender Lidya shut down in October 2025 after nine years, citing severe financial distress that left it unable to process customer refunds or recover outstanding loans; the collapse followed the departure of co-founder Tunde Kehinde, disbanding of its Portugal engineering team over payroll failures, and a public dispute in which co-founder Ercin Eksin alleged investors took control of the company 'in an unjust manner.'

What Lidya attempted

Lidya built a digital lending platform providing working-capital loans to small and medium businesses in Nigeria, later expanding briefly into Poland and the Czech Republic before retreating to focus on the Nigerian market, and launched a loan-recovery product called Lidya Collect.

What worked

Lidya raised $16.5 million across a 2017 seed round, a 2018 Series A, and a 2021 pre-Series B led by Alitheia Capital, and by 2021 had issued more than 32,000 loans worth roughly $150 million.

Early warning signs

Between May and September 2024 Lidya's Portugal-based tech team was disbanded amid payroll failures, its CTO resigned in September 2024, and co-founder Tunde Kehinde departed in October 2024; customers later reported funds frozen in the Lidya Collect product and failed transactions.

What happened

After withdrawing from European markets in 2023 to refocus on Nigeria, Lidya lost its CTO and co-founder Kehinde through 2024 amid payroll and operational failures. Co-founder Ercin Eksin publicly disputed his earlier 'departure,' saying investors took control of the company improperly and that he was litigating them in the US. In October 2025, with customer funds frozen and loans unrecoverable, Lidya announced it was shutting down entirely, citing 'severe financial distress.'

Lessons for future builders

A lender lives or dies on the loans it can collect and the funds it can return on demand. Keep recovery systems and clean governance ahead of loan-book growth, so one bad cycle cannot strand customer refunds or spark a fight over control.