Tech in Africa
Opay, Africa’s digital payments startup is engaged with talks with investors to raise over $400 million, valuing the startup at $1.5 billion. This was reported by The Information whose fundraising is coming two years after Opay publicly announced two funding rounds in 2019, the $50 million raise in June and $120 million Serie B in November.
We earlier covered Opay’s intentions to expand to Northern Africa – a move that has seen the company launch in Egypt. The new raise which is likely a Serie C could be key in the company’s ambitious expansion efforts. Opay’s parent company reported that the startup’s monthly transactions culminated to $2 billion in December. TechCrunch reports that the company claims to process 80% of Nigeria’s bank account transfers done by mobile money operators.
Nigeria is Opay’s largest market and still has growth potential given the country’s huge population of underbanked and unbanked – about 40%. This was captured in this year’s Fintech: the Middle East and Africa 2021 Report. The fintech sector is playing a key role in the development of the country where over 200 million-plus people reside according to the National Population Commission of Nigeria.
Opay is facing stiff competition from other leading fintechs such as Paystack, Interswitch, Flutterwave, and others, and an indication of the highly competitive market that is Africa’s largest economy.
*correction on valuation of $1.5 million to $1.5 billion*
