Vatar, the company behind the viral browser game Lagos Life, has closed a $500,000 angel round.
Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola invested in the startup through his fund, Resilience17, while Oo Nwoye, Terra Industries and Mono CEOs Nathan Nwachuku and Abdulhamid Hassan also participated in the round, which closed in a day.
The investment values the company at $10 million, a significant show of confidence from its investors.
Lagos Life, Vatar’s flagship game, was built and launched by Shalom Rayhamen, a Nigerian developer, in under a day with the help of AI tools.
The game, which was released barely a week ago, simulates life in a virtual Lagos. Players can find work, earn virtual naira, pay rent, and even ride public transport within the game.
In the first three days after its launch, the game racked up one million players and has since grown to more than four million, according to updates from Rayhamen.
“I grew up playing The Sims and always wondered what it would look like if the characters lived in my city,” Rayhamen, co-founder and CEO of Vatar Inc said. “Four million people have now shown us the answer.”
Rayhamen co-founded the company with Owen Rayhamen and Anderson Oriahi. The startup is already generating revenue and has generated more than $170,000 in earned and contracted revenue since launch.
Lagos Life is the poster child for a slew of games launched by Nigerian developers in the last two weeks. The games are increasingly testing what is possible in a gaming industry that has historically been stifled by limited investment and high startup costs.
By leveraging artificial intelligence, independent developers have been able to spin up numerous games in a short period. With this funding secured, Vatar will now look to build on Lagos Life’s early momentum and turn its viral success into a sustainable gaming business.
Last updated: October 9, 2026
