OPay is one of Nigeria's most-used fintech apps — and, like several of its peers, it is largely offshore-owned.
OPay was launched out of Opera, the browser company, and founded by the Chinese entrepreneur Zhou Yahui. Its 2021 Series C — led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2, with Sequoia China participating — valued OPay at about US$2 billion 1. It is now reportedly targeting a valuation of around US$4 billion for a US IPO 2.
The customers and the transactions are overwhelmingly Nigerian; the ownership sits with Opera, its founder and a roster of international funds. It is the same shape as Paystack — Nigerian-used, foreign-owned — with a different set of names on the cap table.
See OPay in the Cultural-Signal Index, and the wider consolidation in The Great Convergence.