Despite a tighter global VC market, Nigerian fintech attracted $340M in Q1 2025. Payments and lending led the round count.
Despite a tighter global VC market, Nigerian fintech attracted $340M in Q1 2025. Payments and lending led the round count.
Nigeria's financial ecosystem is evolving rapidly. Businesses that once relied on informal trust and personal relationships to close deals are discovering that digital infrastructure can provide stronger, faster, and more transparent guarantees.
Escrow is at the heart of this transformation. By holding funds in a neutral, regulated account until pre-agreed conditions are met, escrow removes the leap of faith that both buyers and sellers have historically had to make.
The implications are significant. Dispute rates drop. Deal velocity increases. And both parties enter transactions with a shared understanding of what success looks like — written into the escrow terms, not left to interpretation.
At KetaPay, we've seen this play out across hundreds of transactions. The businesses that adopt escrow early tend to grow faster, retain clients longer, and spend less time managing payment disputes.
The road ahead is clear. As Nigeria's digital economy matures, the infrastructure that underpins trust will become as critical as the products and services being exchanged. Escrow isn't a nice-to-have — it's becoming table stakes.
