Startups gain from disorder: Nigeria's cash crunch, funding drought lessons

Moniepoint's transaction volume jumped from 1.7 billion to 5 billion and its value from about $100 billion to over $150 billion between 2022 and 2023, after Nigeria's cash crisis boosted demand for digital payments. Similarly, M-KOPA and LemFi show how startups can become more useful when traditional financial systems falter, while the recent funding drought revealed that many ventures built on cheap capital are fragile when it dries up.

For Nigerian founders and investors, this means that businesses designed to gain from disorder—not just survive it—can capture huge growth when shocks like currency shortages or regulatory shifts occur. Understanding antifragility helps spot opportunities where a product becomes more necessary as the environment worsens, and it encourages financing models that do not rely solely on endless venture equity.

To apply this, build solutions that address pain points amplified by crises (such as POS networks for cash shortages or alternative credit for informal workers), watch macro shocks for emerging demand, consider structured debt alongside equity for asset-heavy ventures, and maintain optionality across markets or products so a setback in one area does not sink the whole company.

SOURCE: https://techcabal.com/2026/09/13/next-wave-antfragile-startup/