Wallets/opay
OPay
0 standards supported
Overview
OPay is Nigeria's largest mobile wallet + fintech leader, founded 2018 as Opera browser group spin-off [1, 2, ng-cro]. By 2025, OPay reached 58 million active users + $9.2+ billion FY2025 transactions + 22% Nigerian e-wallet market share. Monthly transaction volume: ~$12 billion; 10 million daily active users.
- 2021: $2 billion (post-$400M Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2)
- 2024: $2.75 billion (Opera carrying value implied)
- End-2025: $3.1 billion (Opera valued its 9.5% stake at $294.6M)
- Pending: $4 billion US IPO — Opera assigns 85% probability to OPay IPO within next 2 years.
Distinctive context: Nigerian bank technology failures pushed OPay + [[palmpay]] to leadership in daily payments during the ₦20.7 trillion mobile-money rush of 2024-2025 [5].
History
2018 — OPay launches [2] as Opera browser group spin-off (Norway-listed Opera, Chinese-founder Yahui Zhou-backed).
2021 — $400M Series C [3]: Led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, $2B valuation.
2024-2025 — Nigerian bank-failures drove OPay to daily-payments leadership [5]: ₦20.7T mobile-money rush.
Early 2025 — 58M active users + $9.2B FY2025 tx volume + 22% NG e-wallet market share [1].
Late 2025 — $3.1B Opera-implied valuation [3].
2026 — $4B US IPO pending [4]: Opera assigns 85% probability within 2 years.
Ownership & operator
Operating entity: OPay (independent post-spin-off from Opera).
Founder / chairman: Yahui Zhou (Opera + Beijing Kunlun Tech chairman).
Major investors: Opera (9.5% stake, $294.6M Dec 2025), SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Sequoia China, Source Code Capital, DragonBall Capital, Beijing Kunlun Tech, Meituan-Dianping.
Regulators: CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) — Mobile Money Operator + Microfinance Bank license.
Technical integration
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Channels | OPay mobile app (iOS + Android) + OPay agent network + OPay merchant POS |
| Identifiers | Phone |
| Countries active | Nigeria (primary, 50M+ users) + Egypt + Pakistan |
| License | Mobile Money Operator + Microfinance Bank (CBN-licensed) |
| Account model | Mobile-money + microfinance hybrid; bank-account-equivalent for unbanked |
| Sub-products | OPay wallet + OWealth (savings) + OLoan + OPay POS for SMEs |
Users & growth
- Active users: 58 million (FY2025)
- Nigeria users: 50+ million
- Daily active users: 10 million
- FY2025 transaction volume: $9.2 billion
- Monthly transaction volume: ~$12 billion
- Nigerian e-wallet market share: 22%
Use cases
P2P transfers via OPay wallet; merchant POS payments (OPay POS for SMEs); agent banking + cash-in/cash-out; OWealth savings; OLoan microcredit; bill payments + utilities + airtime; cross-border to Egypt + Pakistan.
Implementations & partners
Operator: OPay (independent fintech, Opera spin-off).
Major investors: Opera (9.5%) + SoftBank Vision Fund 2 + Sequoia China + Source Code Capital + DragonBall Capital + Beijing Kunlun Tech + Meituan-Dianping.
Major Nigerian competitors: [[palmpay]] (Nigerian rival; Transsion Holdings-backed), [[paga]], Kuda Bank (Nigerian neobank), [[flutterwave]] (Africa-wide payment processor), OPay's bank competitors: Access Bank, GTBank, Zenith Bank, UBA.
Regulator: CBN.
Fun facts
- 2018 Opera browser group spin-off — distinctive Chinese-Norwegian-Nigerian fintech genealogy.
- 58M active users + $9.2B FY2025 tx volume + 22% NG e-wallet market share.
- $12B monthly transaction volume + 10M daily active users.
- $3.1B end-2025 valuation (Opera-implied) — $4B US IPO pending (85% probability per Opera).
- SoftBank Vision Fund 2-backed ($400M Series C 2021 at $2B valuation).
- Nigerian bank-failure context — OPay + PalmPay won daily payments during banks' downtime.
- Cross-border: NG (primary) + EG + PK.
Comparison
| Feature | OPay | [[palmpay]] (NG rival) | mtn-momo (multi-Africa) | [[gcash]] (PH analogous scale) | [[m-pesa]] (KE/multi-Africa mobile-money pioneer) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | OPay (Opera spin-off; SoftBank-backed) | PalmPay (Transsion Holdings-backed) | MTN Group (JSE: MTN) | GCash (Globe + Ant Group + 667 Partners) | Safaricom + Vodacom |
| Type | NG #1 mobile wallet + microfinance bank | NG #2 mobile wallet | Multi-African mobile money | PH wallet + super-app | KE mobile-money pioneer + East Africa |
| Country | NG + EG + PK | Nigeria | 17 African | Philippines | 7+ African |
| Users | 58M + 10M DAU + 22% NG market share | Major NG rival | 60M+ MoMo | 81M+ | 51M+ |
| Valuation | $3.1B (Opera Dec 2025) → $4B IPO target (85% probability per Opera) | Major NG | MTN public parent | Listed Globe Telecom + GCash separate | Safaricom public parent |
| Distinctive | Opera spin-off; SoftBank-backed; ₦20.7T NG mobile-money rush leader | Transsion-backed (smartphone synergy) | MTN telco-led mobile money | PH super-app + GoTyme Bank sister | KE mobile-money pioneer (2007) |
Status
Active, Nigeria's largest mobile wallet [1, 4]:
- OPay since 2018 (Opera spin-off).
- 58M active users + 10M DAU + 22% NG e-wallet market share.
- $3.1B end-2025 valuation + $4B US IPO pending (85% probability per Opera).
- CBN-regulated; Nigeria (primary) + Egypt + Pakistan.
Sources
- 1 OPay + PalmPay ₦20.7T mobile-money — TechCabal
- 2 OPay SoftBank-backed — Asian Banker
- 3 OPay $3.1B valuation — WeeTracker
- 4 OPay $4B US IPO pending — WeeTracker
- 5 NG bank failures pushed OPay — EcofinAgency
- ng-cro In-corpus:
reports/countries/NG-nigeria.md
Source
Biography extracted from opay.md. See matrix.md for standards-support matrix if present.