Nigerian-born crypto firm Lazerpay is ceasing operations, and has put intellectual property up for sale after failing to raise additional funds.

Njoku Emmanuel, Lazerpay founder and CEO, announced the decision yesterday. In a statement, Emmanuel said, despite his team’s ‘tireless efforts’, the company was ‘unable to close a successful fundraising round’.

He said: “We fought hard to keep the lights on as long as possible, unfortunately, we are now at a point where we need to shut down.”

Lazerpay, which commenced operations in 2021, is a blockchain-based payment gateway that provides businesses and merchants an easy way to accept payments globally. In his statement, Emmanuel said since launch Lazerpay had enabled over 3 000 businesses globally.

“As we sunset Lazerpay, we remain commited to helping our users transition smoothly and to ensuring that any outstanding matters are resolved. Merchants are advised to withdraw their funds from the platform before 30 April 2023 using the bank or crypto payout option. We encourage our community to stay in touch and reach out to us as the team will be available to answer any questions or concerns.”

Further, Emmanuel said: “We welcome offers from companies who are interested in purchasing Lazerpay IP, and who would like to continue building the future of crypto payments. We are more than happy to talk further about how technology works, and how we can help set you up to build or integrate with it.”