Customer complaints, liquidity crisis, CEO’s exit: This is the timeline of Brass’s journey into oblivion

In the first half of 2020, a new fintech startup promised to solve corporate banking for small ventures across Nigeria. Brass launched with sleek marketing software tools and rapid account creation.

The cofounders, Sola Akindolu and Emmanuel Okeke, positioned the entity as the ultimate alternative to traditional banks. Corporate clients flooded the platform. By October 2021, one media report stated that the company was managing over 5,000 corporate accounts. Notable digital businesses like Eden Life and Mono moved their operational cash to the platform.

Brass cofounders, Sola Akindolu and Emmanuel Okeke

Initial reception reflected absolute optimism. On November 26, 2022, an anonymous user left a 5-star rating on the mobile application store, writing that they never enjoyed their internet banking journey more. The user added that Brass Technologies solved real problems.

That public adoration masked severe architectural defects beneath the surface. On November 23, 2022, an expert user named jnr.Noah posted a 1-star review highlighting a massive security concern. Noah noticed that the application failed to terminate user sessions after closure.

So, the application took users straight back to the financial dashboard without requesting a password login. The reviewer, identified as a product manager who builds banking systems, explicitly declared the defect dangerous.

Software code also struggled with basic money transfers. By May 30, 2023, small merchants began abandoning the platform during critical business hours. One user reported that payment processing took too long and frequently resorted to alternative banking mobile applications to satisfy impatient shoppers.

This technical lag forced the merchant to pay twice on multiple occasions. These early infrastructure glitches were the first warning signs. The startup raised over $2 million from institutional investors but failed to maintain stable engineering.

₦2 billion liquidity freeze

The operational friction transformed into a systemic liquidity crisis during the final quarter of 2023. Nigeria experienced severe macroeconomic pressure and a deep venture capital funding winter. Startups could no longer secure easy cash injections to cover operational deficits. Brass began withholding customer deposits to manage internal financial gaps.

By January 26, 2024, the business community realised that something had gone wrong. A corporate account holder published an explosive review on the application store, arguing that the bank used to be stable but changed completely.

The user warned that once you put money into a Brass banking account, you can forget about accessing the cash until they decide to release the funds. The merchant stated that the bank would suddenly go silent for hours and ignore support messages, concluding that the sudden flop created a growing concern that the company intended to pack up and close shop permanently.

Panic swept through the local tech ecosystem. Small business owners flooded social media channels to protest. Founders could not run monthly payroll. Merchants could not settle vendor invoices for raw materials. Millions of naira remained trapped inside the digital bank. A media report later uncovered that the startup carried a balance sheet deficit of approximately ₦2 billion. The cofounders could not explain or account for this massive financial gap.

Former CEO Sola Akindolu attempted damage control, issuing statements and blaming the withdrawal delays on macroeconomic headwinds. He claimed that the withdrawal failure affected a tiny percentage of the user base. This defensive narrative collapsed when the platform completely halted customer withdrawals. The licenced deposit-taking institution ran completely dry of cash.

“You can say you want to disrupt banks; if you raise $1-2 million, you must raise $5-10 million in a few years. If it is overdue and you have not, things will get tricky. You need access to ridiculous capital,” he shared, per a report.

Paystack rescue and strategic cleansing of Brass

The complete breakdown of customer trust forced an emergency market intervention in May 2024. A powerful consortium of local fintech giants stepped in to execute a rescue buyout, led by payment processing giant Paystack. The consortium included digital savings platform PiggyVest alongside venture capital firms Ventures Platform and P1 Ventures. Prominent angel investors Olumide Soyombo and Oo Nwoye joined the transaction.

This intervention was an ecosystem defence mechanism. The collapse of a major corporate neobank threatened to destroy public confidence in all Nigerian financial technology startups. The transaction structure reflected the severe distress of the target firm.

The consortium did not hand over a massive cash premium to buy company shares. The transaction operated as a liability assumption deal with incoming investors agreeing to take over the ₦2 billion debt burden to protect everyday depositors.

The financial layout prioritised clearing the backlog of customer withdrawals. So, the consortium injected immediate bridge financing to fund trapped accounts. Terms for the creators of the bank were brutal. Cofounders Sola Akindolu and Emmanuel Okeke walked away with zero financial compensation, and their founder equity was pushed to absolute zero. The consortium stripped the executives of management authority and removed them from the building.

Per a report, Paystack immediately deployed three of its own corporate employees to oversee daily administrative tasks. The new management halted new user onboarding to stabilise the architecture, while the remaining staff faced immediate operational changes.

Management revoked the remote work policy and forced workers into a strict physical office schedule. This triggered internal chaos. Employees worked intense overtime hours through the festive holiday season.

The company implemented two aggressive rounds of layoffs during which the human resources department forced existing workers to reapply for their jobs. This was when the total headcount plummeted from over 60 workers to fewer than 20 core individuals. Sudden resignations and retaliatory terminations decimated the original team.

The three employees sent by Paystack explicitly declined to stay permanently, and the consortium had to appoint an external chief executive officer to handle the corporate overhaul.

The ghost in the Brass system

The new owners attempted a quiet corporate rebranding exercise to distance the product from the historical crisis. This was when the entity adopted the name Copper Brass. Public relaunch timeline slipped repeatedly. Management originally targeted late 2024 for a grand return but pushed the deadline to early 2025.

Internal workplace instability degraded the daily user experience. Notwithstanding the financial backing of Paystack, the platform continued to trap merchant capital during the restructuring process.

On February 20, 2025, a frustrated business owner posted a desperate review online, where Brass were labelled thieves. A client sent money to the merchant, but the bank left the transaction pending for days. The merchant explained that they used the account simply to appear professional to corporate shoppers. But Brass refused to credit the account and ignored support messages. Customer care phone lines went dead, so the merchant asked publicly if their business capital was lost forever.

This review proved that the core banking infrastructure remained unreliable. The internal layoffs and system overhauls left remaining users stranded without support. The startup could not regain its footing as an independent financial platform.

The road to oblivion

The independent existence of the digital bank ended permanently in June 2026. The company announced that the standalone startup and its proprietary consumer mobile applications will cease to exist. The parent organisation decided to discontinue the independent brand.

All remaining small business account balances are moving into the regulated infrastructure of Paystack Microfinance Bank. Therefore, existing corporate clients have a final deadline of July 31, 2026, to complete the migration of their financial operations. This consolidation brings a dramatic six-year journey to a close.

The independent neobank model failed. The remaining assets now sit inside a traditional microfinance structure owned by a larger corporate entity.