INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
OPay, an Africa-focused mobile payments startup founded by Norwegian browser company Opera, has raised $50 million in funding.Lead investors
include Sequoia China, IDG Capital and Source Code Capital
commercial network in Nigeria, which includes motorcycle ride-hail app ORide and OFood delivery service.Opera founded OPay in 2018 on the
popularity of its internet search engine
2 in usage in Africa, after Chrome, the last four years.
On the payments side, OPay in Nigeria has scaled to 40,000 active agents and $5
million in daily transaction volume.The $50 million investment in OPay is more than just another big round in Africa
OPay founder Opera was acquired in 2016 for $600 million by a consortium of Chinese investors, led by current Opera CEO YahuiZhou.The
For years Kenya has outpaced Nigeria in P2P digital payments volumes and digital financial inclusion, largely due to the rapid adoption of
(including telcos) to offer mobile payment services
The CBN eased many of those restrictions earlier this year
This opens the door for mobile operators like MTN, with the largest phone network in Nigeria, to offer mobile-money products
leading digital payment company, Paga, raised $10 million in 2018 to further expand its customer base that now tallies 13 million
internet platform in Africa
Part of the $50 million investment includes diversifying country and product offerings
This could place OPay and its Opera-supported suite of products on a competitive footing with other ride-hail, food delivery and payments
startups across the continent
