Nigerian Fintech OPay Raises USD 120 Mn Series B

OPay, the fintech company that was founded by Opera, a Norwegian software company, has raised USD 120Mn in a Series B round from Chinese investors, as reported by TechCrunch. The investors include Meituan-Dianping, GaoRong, Source Code Capital, Softbank Asia, BAI, Redpoint, IDG Capital, Sequoia China and GSR Ventures.

The Lagos-based startup will use the acquired funding to scale in Nigeria as well as expand its payments products to Kenya, Ghana and South Africa.

Opera CFO Frode Jacobsen also disclosed that the funding will go into expansion into more African countries apart from those disclosed. He added that though not a priority, OPay seeks to capture volume in its bill payments and airtime purchases services.

“That’s not something you do ever day. We want to focus our services on things that have high-frequency usage,” said Jacobsen.

OPay through its mobile application serves as a one-stop-shop facilitating money transfers, payments for goods, bills and other daily services such as grocery delivery and transportation, airtime purchase and top-ups of accounts.

“Opay will facilitate the people in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and other African countries with the best fintech ecosystem. We see ourselves as a key contributor to helping local businesses thrive from digital business models,” Opera CEO and OPay Chairman Yahui Zhou, said in a statement.

This funding comes after Opay had raised USD 50 Mn earlier this year, from Sequoia Capital, IDG Capital, Source Code Capital, Meituan-Dianping, GSR Ventures and Opera Limited.

OPay is also just one of the digital businesses under Opera. The software company launched other businesses such as ride-hailing app ORide, food delivery service OFood and OLeads, a promotional tool for SMEs.

Feature Image Courtesy: Techcabal