---
title: "Why Wala shut down"
description: "South African crypto-payments startup Wala, maker of the Dala token, shut down its app entirely on June 24, 2019 after failing to raise further funding during a broader crypto-investment downturn; founder Tricia Martinez pitched over 100 investors for eight months without success."
canonical_url: "https://liners.com/graveyard/wala"
markdown_url: "https://liners.com/graveyard/wala.md"
type: "graveyard"
language: "en"
image: "/graveyard/wala/certificate.png"
published_at: "2026-07-31T17:41:07.836Z"
updated_at: "2026-07-31T17:41:07.836Z"
---

# Why Wala shut down

South African crypto-payments startup Wala, maker of the Dala token, shut down its app entirely on June 24, 2019 after failing to raise further funding during a broader crypto-investment downturn; founder Tricia Martinez pitched over 100 investors for eight months without success.

## Breadcrumbs

- [Graveyard](/graveyard)
- [Wala](/graveyard/wala)

## Summary

Here lies Wala. Its Dala token let unbanked users in South Africa and Uganda send money by phone, 150,000 of them within months. But cash-in rails kept failing, scammers gamed the rewards, and eight months pitching 100 investors through crypto winter raised nothing. It switched off in June 2019.

South African crypto-payments startup Wala, maker of the Dala token, shut down its app entirely on June 24, 2019 after failing to raise further funding during a broader crypto-investment downturn; founder Tricia Martinez pitched over 100 investors for eight months without success.

## Product history

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Fate | ShutDown |
| Primary cause | FundingRunway |
| Stage at shutdown | Seed |
| Lifespan in days | 911 |

## Autopsy report

## What the product attempted

Wala built a crypto-powered payments app (using its Dala utility token) letting users in South Africa and Uganda send and receive money via mobile, targeting the unbanked.

## What worked

Wala grew to over 150,000 users within months of launch and raised about $1.2M via a Dala token sale after backing from Newtown Partners.

## Early warning signs

Reward-system abuse by scammers forced repeated model changes; partner payment infrastructure frequently failed due to poor connectivity, eroding user trust; the company was fundraising through a 'crypto winter' with declining investor interest; team cuts and deposit shutdowns preceded the full closure.

## What happened

Infrastructure failures at cash-in/cash-out partners repeatedly blocked user transactions and damaged trust, while a wave of reward-abuse forced product changes. CEO Tricia Martinez spent roughly eight months pitching 100+ investors without securing new capital amid a crypto-industry funding slowdown, leading the company to wind down operations and turn off the app on June 24, 2019.

## Sources

- [Wala Was Africa's Perfect Crypto Success Story - Until It Collapsed](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/07/11/wala-was-africas-perfect-crypto-success-story-until-it-collapsed/?ref=startupgraveyard.africa): Disrupt Africa
- [Crypto Startup Wala Shuts Down: The Case of an Underfunded Startup Tackling a Global Problem](https://technext.ng/2019/07/08/crypto-startup-wala-shuts-down-the-case-of-an-underfunded-startup-tackling-a-global-problem/): Technext
- [SA crypto-based payments startup Wala closes after failing to secure funding](https://disruptafrica.com/2019/07/08/sa-crypto-based-payments-startup-wala-closes-after-failing-to-secure-funding/): Disrupt Africa

## Related pages

- [Wala alternatives](/wala/alternatives)
- [Liners Graveyard](/graveyard)

## Access and citation

- [Canonical HTML page](https://liners.com/graveyard/wala)
- [Markdown route index](/sitemap.md)
- [Agent access guide](/llms.txt)