If you look at the top-line numbers, Nigeria’s debt capital market is booming. Despite a punishing interest rate environment — with the central bank’s benchmark rate stuck at 27% for most of the year — corporate Nigeria raised a record ₦1.61tn ($1.12bn) in Commercial Papers (CPs) in 2025. This represents a 40% jump from the previous year.
But dig into the issuer list, and a stark trend emerges: the country’s tech sector, once tipped to democratise access to capital, has effectively been shut out.
Of the 58 approved CP issuances listed by the FMDQ Exchange as of October 23, 2025, only two pure-play technology companies — fintechs Payaza Africa and NGN Gram — appear. The rest of the market is dominated by industrial heavyweights like Dangote Sugar, UAC of Nigeria, and agribusinesses like Johnvents Industries.
For a tech ecosystem facing a global venture capital drought, the inability to tap into this deep pool of local liquidity is a blow. It signals the end of the “easy money” era for African startups and the beginning of a harsh new reality: in 2025, local debt is for the profitable, not the promising.
The “April Freeze”
The primary culprit for the tech exodus is a regulatory overhaul introduced by Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April 2025.
Alarmed by the default risks associated with high-growth, loss-making startups, the regulator tightened the screws. The new framework mandates that CP issuers must have a minimum shareholders’ equity of ₦500m (approx. $350k).
For mature corporates like Dangote Sugar — which raised over ₦300bn across multiple series in late 2025 — this is a rounding error. But for early-to-mid-stage startups, which often operate with negative retained earnings due to heavy reinvestment, this equity floor is an insurmountable wall.
“The rules were designed to filter out fragility,” a Lagos-based capital market analysts, Pascal Osifo, told Launch Base Africa. “In 2023 and 2024, we saw fintechs issuing paper just to extend their runway. The SEC has effectively said: ‘The debt market is not for venture risk.’”
The impact is visible in the absence of previous market darlings. FairMoney, the digital lender that was a poster child for fintech CPs in 2024 with frequent issuances, is notably absent from 2025 “Fresh Issue” list.
The Flight to Quality
It isn’t just regulation keeping tech out; it’s investor appetite.
With the average discount rate on CPs hitting 22.38% in 2025 — and yields often pushing past 25% — institutional investors (primarily Pension Fund Administrators) are spoiled for choice.
“If I can get a 26% yield from a blue-chip like UAC of Nigeria or a secured series from Johnvents, why would I take a punt on a neobank?” Osifo said.
The data supports this flight to safety. The 2025 issuer list is heavy on “real economy” businesses that can pass on inflation costs to consumers:
- Agribusiness: Companies like Golden Fertilizer and Valency Agro are using CPs to fund export cycles, earning hard currency that hedges their repayment risk.
- Manufacturing: Dangote Sugar’s aggressive issuance (Series 10 through 16) suggests a massive stockpiling strategy to lock in raw material prices.
- Infrastructure: Gas-to-power firms like Asiko Power and GLNG Funding are tapping the market to fund tangible assets.
In this environment, “asset-light” tech models struggle to compete for capital.
The Exception: Payaza’s Pivot
The only fintech bucking the trend is Payaza Africa. The payments company successfully listed Series 3, 4, and 5 in late 2025, raising over ₦42bn ($29m) combined.
Payaza’s ability to access the market where others failed highlights the new archetype for “bankable” tech in Nigeria. In October, the company announced the full repayment of its ₦20.3bn Series 1 & 2 notes, a move CEO Seyi Ebenezer attributed to “discipline and good governance.”
Unlike the growth-first lending models that dominated previous years, Payaza has positioned itself closer to traditional banking infrastructure. By securing an investment-grade rating and meeting the new equity requirements, it has effectively “graduated” from startup status in the eyes of the debt market.
A Mature, Boring Market
The exclusion of startups from the 2025 debt boom suggests a maturing of Nigeria’s capital markets. The days of using commercial paper as a substitute for Series B equity are over.
For Nigerian tech, this creates a dangerous “missing middle” in funding. Venture capital remains scarce, and local debt is now ring-fenced for the biggest players.