If you're launching a tech startup in Lagos right now, you're facing a choice that will shape your first two years: Yaba or Lekki. Both neighbourhoods have become startup magnets, but they serve different founders at different stages. Yaba offers cheaper rent, denser networking, and the feeling of being in the epicentre of Nigerian tech. Lekki offers more space, better infrastructure, proximity to corporate clients, and a quieter work environment. The right choice depends on your stage, your burn rate, and what kind of founder you are.

This article cuts through the hype. We've mapped the real costs, counted the coworking spaces, checked the internet reliability, and talked to founders in both locations. By the end, you'll know which neighbourhood fits your startup—and what you'll gain or lose by choosing it.

The Yaba myth and the reality

Yaba has become synonymous with Nigerian tech. When you say "startup" in Lagos, people picture Yaba: the converted colonial buildings, the street art, the density of founders per square metre. It's the neighbourhood where Andela, Flutterwave, and Paystack all either started or had early offices. It's where the Twitter of Lagos happens—the casual conversations in coffee shops that lead to introductions, partnerships, and hires.

But the Yaba of 2026 is not the Yaba of 2020. Rent has tripled. The best coworking spaces are booked months in advance. The internet, while better than it was, is still inconsistent on certain streets. And the "startup energy" now comes with startup noise: the constant pitching, the networking fatigue, the pressure to be visible and always on.

What Yaba still offers, though, is unmatched:

1. Talent density. The majority of Lagos tech talent still clusters in Yaba. If you're hiring engineers, designers, or product managers, your candidate pool is largest here. You'll see this in how quickly job posts fill and how many cold walk-ins you'll get if you're visibly hiring.

2. Investor proximity. Most Lagos-based VCs—Ventures Platform, Lofty Africa, Microtraction, Ingressive Capital—have offices or regular presence in Yaba. Lekki has some, but Yaba is still the default meeting point.

3. Cost of living for employees. While office rent in Yaba has risen, employee accommodation is still cheaper than Lekki. Your team will have an easier time affording flats within 15 minutes of the office, which matters for retention.

4. Operational simplicity. Yaba's infrastructure—vendors, food delivery, laundry, maintenance—is mature and competitive. You can solve problems faster here because more service providers compete for your business.

The trade-off is noise, congestion, and the constant pressure to be "in the scene."

Lekki: the corporate escape hatch

Lekki has evolved from a weekend destination into a serious startup neighbourhood. Ikoyi and VI (Victoria Island) have their own tech clusters, but Lekki—particularly around Lekki Phase 1 and the Admiralty axis—has become where founders go when they want to scale without the Yaba theatre.

Lekki's advantages are structural:

1. Space and comfort. Offices are larger, quieter, and designed for focus. If your team is 15+ people, you can rent a whole floor in a modern building for less than you'd pay for a co-working desk in Yaba. This matters for productivity and for the impression you make on corporate clients or enterprise customers.

2. Stable infrastructure. Lekki's power and internet are more reliable than Yaba's. Most commercial buildings here have backup generators and fibre connectivity. If your product is real-time or latency-sensitive, this is a genuine operational advantage.

3. Corporate proximity. Many of your potential customers—Zenith Bank, GTBank, Dangote, Unilever, Nestlé—have offices or operations in Lekki or nearby Ikoyi. Meetings are easier to set up. Your sales team can do three client visits in a morning without losing an hour to Lagos traffic.

4. Founder mental health. Lekki is less intense. You can work a focused day without the constant networking pull. For some founders, this is liberation. For others, it's isolation.

5. Investor meetings. While Yaba is still the default, more VCs are opening Lekki offices. Ventures Platform has a presence here. Flutterwave is based in Lekki. It's becoming a secondary hub, which means you're not at a disadvantage.

The cost is real: rent is 40-60% higher than Yaba, and your team will struggle to find affordable housing nearby. Many Lekki-based startups have teams living in Yaba or Ikoyi and commuting in.

Cost comparison: what you'll actually pay

Let's be specific. These are 2026 ranges based on current market movement:

For a pre-seed startup with 3–5 people, Yaba saves you ₦200,000–400,000 per month. Over 18 months, that's ₦3.6–7.2 million—real runway extension. For a Series A startup with 20+ people, the gap is larger in absolute terms but smaller as a percentage of your budget.

Talent and hiring: where your team will come from

We've worked with founders in both locations, and the hiring experience is noticeably different.

In Yaba, your first 5 hires will come fast. The talent pool is concentrated, and word spreads quickly. You'll get walk-ins. You'll get referrals from other founders. You'll see candidates who are actively looking because they live nearby and check the neighbourhood regularly. The quality varies—you'll see more junior talent—but the volume is high.

In Lekki, hiring is slower but potentially higher quality. Candidates are more likely to be already employed and choosing between offers. They're less likely to be in "founder mode" themselves, which can be good (more focused) or bad (less entrepreneurial energy). You'll rely more on LinkedIn, recruitment agencies, and referrals.

For finding a technical co-founder, Yaba is still the default. The density of engineers, the co-working culture, the casual meetings—it all favours serendipitous co-founder discovery. If you're solo right now and need a technical partner, spend time in Yaba. We've detailed the mechanics in how to find a technical co-founder in Lagos, but the short version is: proximity matters.

Makers like /maker/obi and /maker/yemi both started in Yaba specifically because they needed to be where the talent was clustering.

Internet, power, and the infrastructure reality

This is not romantic, but it matters more than networking.

Yaba's internet is better than it was in 2022, but it's still variable by street. Some buildings have excellent fibre from Smile or MainOne. Others are stuck on mobile data or older fixed-line infrastructure. Power is the same: most co-working spaces have generators, but load-shedding still happens, and during peak hours (9am–12pm, 2–5pm), you might see slowdowns.

Lekki's infrastructure is materially more reliable. Most commercial buildings have fibre, backup power is standard, and the grid is more stable. If you're running a B2B SaaS product or doing real-time work, this is not a small thing. Downtime costs money and credibility.

For founders building consumer products or doing asynchronous work, the difference is negligible. For founders building critical infrastructure, payment systems, or B2B platforms, Lekki's infrastructure edge is real.

Investor access and fundraising

Both locations have investor access, but the pattern is different.

Yaba is still the default meeting point. If you're pitching to Ventures Platform, Lofty Africa, or Ingressive Capital, they'll often suggest Yaba first. It's where the informal deal-making happens. It's where you'll see founders and investors having coffee and talking about deals that haven't been formally pitched yet.

Lekki has institutional presence now. Flutterwave is based here, which signals that scale-stage companies are comfortable in Lekki. Several VCs have satellite offices. But it's still secondary. If you're pre-seed or seed, Yaba gives you a slight advantage in terms of casual investor access.

The difference shrinks as you grow. By Series A, your location matters less than your metrics and your team. Investors will travel to wherever you are.

The ecosystem and community

Yaba has a more active informal ecosystem. There are more events, more casual meetups, more spontaneous collaborations. If you want to be embedded in the Lagos startup community, Yaba is where that happens. It's not organized—it's emergent—but it's real.

Lekki's ecosystem is more corporate and less dense, but it's growing. There are accelerators and co-working spaces organizing events. The community is smaller but potentially more focused.

For early-stage founders, Yaba's ecosystem is a genuine asset. For later-stage founders, it can be a distraction.

We've ranked every Nigerian startup hub and accelerator if you want to know where formal support is available in each location.

Who should choose each location

Choose Yaba if:

1. You're pre-seed or seed and need to extend runway.
2. You're hiring your first technical team and need access to talent density.
3. You're looking for a co-founder or need to be visible in the ecosystem.
4. Your product is not infrastructure-critical (i.e., internet/power reliability is not a hard constraint).
5. You want the energy and the community.

Choose Lekki if:

1. You're Series A or later and can afford the premium.
2. Your team is 15+ people and needs focus and space.
3. You're selling to corporate clients and need to be accessible to them.
4. Your product requires reliable infrastructure (payment processing, real-time systems, B2B SaaS).
5. You want a calmer work environment and don't need the startup scene.
6. You're hiring senior talent that's already employed and less likely to be in Yaba.

The middle ground: satellite offices

Some founders are splitting the difference. They maintain a small presence in Yaba—a co-working desk or a small office for meetings and visibility—while basing their team in Lekki. This works if you have the budget and if your team is disciplined enough to not be split.

Maker /maker/ada has done this effectively: small Yaba office for investor meetings and networking, main team in Lekki for focus and client work. It requires intentionality, but it can give you both advantages.

When you're looking at co-working spaces, the 12 best coworking spaces in Lagos for founders in 2026 includes options in both neighbourhoods so you can test before committing.

The long view: where Lagos tech is moving

Both Yaba and Lekki will remain important, but the centre of gravity is shifting. More scale-stage companies are choosing Lekki or Ikoyi. More early-stage founders are starting in Yaba but moving out faster as they grow. The talent pool is gradually spreading beyond Yaba as more suburbs become accessible and as remote work becomes more normalized.

By 2027–2028, the choice between Yaba and Lekki will matter less. The ecosystem is maturing. But in 2026, it still matters—particularly for pre-seed and seed founders where every ₦100,000 of monthly runway extension is the difference between pivoting and persisting.

FAQ

Q: Is Yaba still worth it if I can afford Lekki?

A: It depends on your stage and what you're optimizing for. If you're pre-seed and need to extend runway, the cost savings are real. If you're Series A+ and optimizing for team productivity and client access, Lekki is probably better. If you're between the two, Yaba's ecosystem advantage might outweigh the cost difference.

Q: How bad is Yaba's internet really?

A: Variable. Some buildings have excellent fibre and you'll have no issues. Others are on older infrastructure and you'll see regular slowdowns. If internet reliability is critical to your product, test the specific building before committing. Lekki is more consistently reliable.

Q: Can I hire good engineers in Lekki?

A: Yes, but it's slower and you'll pay more. Lekki has engineers, but fewer are actively looking, and more are already employed at larger companies. You'll need to be more proactive with recruitment. Yaba's talent density is still an advantage for hiring speed.

Q: Will investors take me less seriously if I'm in Lekki instead of Yaba?

A: No. By Series A, location doesn't meaningfully affect investor perception. At seed stage, Yaba gives you a slight advantage in terms of casual access, but investors will still come to Lekki if your metrics are good. The difference is minimal.

Q: Is it worth maintaining offices in both locations?

A: Only if you have the budget and discipline. A small Yaba presence for meetings and networking while your main team is in Lekki can work, but it requires intentionality. Most founders find it's either a waste of money or a necessary expense that pays for itself through investor and talent access.

What to do next

1. Visit both neighbourhoods in person. Spend a day working from a co-working space in each location. The choice will become clearer.

2. Check the 12 best coworking spaces in Lagos for founders in 2026 and book a trial day at 2–3 spaces in each neighbourhood. Test the internet, the noise levels, and the community vibe.

3. If you're hiring, read how to find a technical co-founder in Lagos and spend time in whichever location aligns with your hiring strategy.