Itana is developing Africa’s first digital free zone and a virtual city offering free‑zone benefits to digital and service companies. Its initial product, Itana Edge, is a one‑stop online app (compared to Stripe Atlas) that helps international businesses incorporate and access incentives such as taxation, business visas, banking, capital repatriation and supportive legislation via a partnership with the Nigerian government. The startup raised a $2 million pre‑seed to establish the digital free zone and launch its pilot; the funding is intended to improve Nigeria’s ease‑of‑doing‑business, attract FDI and catalyze employment. It plans a pilot with select companies, expects to go live in Q1 2024, and aims to build a 72,000‑square‑meter “Itana District” live‑work‑build campus with phase one complete by 2027. Revenue models include annual subscription business licenses (revenue shared with government), on‑demand services (banking, visas, tax auditing, recruitment, payroll, sector licenses) and minimal transaction fees. The company was founded by CEO Luqman Edu and COO Coco Liu, with Iyinoluwa Aboyeji a founding investor, and intends to scale by expanding services and partnering with other African governments to replicate digital and physical free zones.

Total raised

$2M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Sep 2023