Zap Africa, a Nigerian cryptocurrency startup, cut 44% of its workforce in February 2026, cutting staff across its design, operations, marketing, and support teams as the company pivots to a leaner, automation-driven model.
The Lagos-based company, founded in 2023, said the layoffs were part of a broader restructuring aimed at aligning operating costs with revenue-generating activities.
The job cuts began in December 2025, with at least five roles eliminated before the latest layoffs in February, which affected eight roles, according to former employees. The startup says it does not plan further layoffs.
“Zap Africa implemented a limited restructuring affecting a few roles. This was not a company-wide layoff,” co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Moore Dagogo Hart, told TechCabal in an email on Tuesday.
“Zap Africa intentionally moved from 18 to 10 as part of an AI-driven efficiency shift,” he added. “What occurred was a targeted internal restructuring as part of our ongoing effort to improve operational efficiency and align the team with our current product and growth priorities.”
The layoffs lay bare the tensions facing young crypto startups in a down market: how to stay lean enough to survive a prolonged bear cycle without gutting the team that was supposed to drive growth. For the two-year-old Zap Africa, the restructuring is both a survival move and a test of whether leaner can also mean stronger.
The cut comes as the global crypto market endures a prolonged bear cycle that has forced startups to cut costs or change direction. In downturns, crypto companies often shift from aggressive growth to capital preservation to survive until market conditions improve. During the 2022 downturn, Quidax, a Nigerian crypto startup, laid off 20% of its staff to become more capital-efficient and extend its runway.
As crypto prices fell from 2024 highs, over-the-counter (OTC) transactions—large trades executed outside the public order book—became a more significant revenue driver for Zap Africa, filling the gap left by the decline in in-app activity.
Zap Africa did not comment on its current revenue performance, operating costs, or the relative contribution of OTC versus retail transactions.
At the centre of the job cuts is Martha AI, a product developed by Dagogo-Hart’s other company, Cognito Systems, an AI-powered software startup. The tool has been integrated into Zap Africa’s customer support workflow to handle first-line customer enquiries, according to a former employee who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“They [Zap Africa] implemented it to a degree,” the former employee said. “Instead of customers starting with a human agent or waiting for one, they [Zap Africa] were trying to use the AI tool to do that.”
The automation push made some roles redundant, according to two former employees affected by the restructuring.
Dagogo Hart said only non-core design, operations, and support teams were affected. The startup will continue operating with 10 employees across product, engineering, finance, legal, operations, and growth.
“Affected employees were provided with severance support in line with their tenure and contractual terms,” said Dagogo Hart. “There have been no pauses to our core products. Development of our wallet and [crypto] exchange continues as planned. Zap Africa remains operationally stable, with sufficient capital and revenue to continue executing our roadmap.”
Revenue pressures, market volatility, and operational strain
The restructuring comes at a delicate point in Zap Africa’s growth trajectory. Launched in 2023 as a retail crypto trading platform, the startup raised $300,000 in pre-seed funding the following year to expand product development.
In a 2025 interview with Techpoint Africa, Dagogo-Hart said the startup had processed over $17 million in crypto transactions and generated up to $100,000 in monthly revenue. “Weekly transactions on the platform currently average around $500,000, which enables the company to reach its $100,000 monthly revenue target,” he added.
At that pace, $500,000 in weekly transactions implies roughly $2 million in monthly trading volume in 2025. With $100,000 in reported monthly revenue, that suggests an implied take rate of about 5%, nearly double the industry standard average.
In recent months, retail activity has slowed on Zap, former employees told TechCabal, as crypto markets have shed roughly $2 trillion in value since October 2025.
“People who would normally have the currency they want to trade over the counter, or in-app, are no longer coming to trade,” said the employee familiar with Zap’s product operations.
Operational issues also compounded the pressure, according to two former employees, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
They cited a May 2024 incident involving a double-counted customer deposit that was later refunded and a February 2025 case involving a fraudulent crypto transfer that resulted in a $5,000 loss.
Zap Africa did not respond to a request for comment on these specific incidents.
While such incidents are not uncommon in fast-moving crypto startups, they highlight the operational risks inherent in managing digital asset platforms, particularly in low-trust and highly volatile markets.
The startup’s financial and operational tightening follows a period of heightened public visibility. In 2025, Zap Africa was involved in a trademark dispute with Paystack, the Stripe-owned Nigerian fintech, over the use of the name “Zap” for a consumer product. The dispute generated significant social media attention and boosted brand awareness for the crypto startup.
Shortly afterwards, Zap ramped up its public profile, hosting Builders Summit—a startup community event organised by Founders Connect—and increasing media appearances. The contrast between outward momentum and internal strain became more apparent with time.
In cyclical sectors like crypto, where revenue is directly tied to trading activity, downturns often expose structural cost pressures. For startups operating with limited capital, automation and workforce reductions can become tools for survival.
Zap Africa says it remains stable and focused on building non-custodial financial infrastructure. Still, the February restructuring marks a turning point for a young startup still balancing ambition with financial sustainability in a high-risk sector.
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