Opera’s Opay Raises $50 Million Funding to Strengthen Its Mobile Internet Ventures in Nigeria. Should Jumia and Konga be Worried?

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OPay, a rapidly growing Mobile Payment Start-up founded by Opera has raised $50 million in funding. The funds were raised in a round led by Chinese VC investors Sequoia China, IDG Capital, and Source Code Capital.

Credit: twitter@opay

OPay plans to use the generated capital to primarily grow and strengthen its digital finance business in Nigeria while boosting the commercial growth of other Opera ventures like ORide (motorcycle ride-hailing app) and OFood delivery service.

Speaking on the round of funds raised, Opera CEO Yahui Zhou expressed his exhilaration at the number of investors coming onboard to accelerate the growth of OPay.

We are thrilled that IDG Capital, Sequoia China, Source Code Capital and others are coming onboard as investors in OPay. The additional capital will allow OPay to accelerate its growth in mobile payment services and the growth into new verticals, such as motorbike ridesharing and food delivery.

Yahui Zhou, Chairman and CEO of Opera Limited.

Founded in 2018 by Opera, Opay rode the wings of the popularity Opera internet’s search engine provided to establish itself as a trusted mobile-based platform for payment, and of recent transportation, food & grocery delivery.

The rising demand for reliable payment and transport platforms from Nigeria’s large population has affected many tech startups in the country for better or worse. OPay is nevertheless growing at a decent rate and the recent expansion of its capital base is poised to bolster its growth in the IT market.


Credit: twitter@opay

OPay’s many ventures though clogged with competitors have solid financial backing. With ORide having to compete with major ride-hailing platforms like Glovo, Gokada and Uber, the recent influx of capital is a defining edge.

OPay’s food & grocery delivery service Ofood, which currently offers a variety of dishes from over 200 restaurants majorly operates in Lagos. However, the inflow of capital gives them the capability to become competition for Jumia Foods as both companies have sufficient financial stability to dominate the food delivery market.


Credit: twitter@opay

OPay’s capital upswing does raise a flag on Opera giant leaps towards becoming a commercial multi-service internet provider in Nigeria. The commercial internet provider market in the country have their kings, with companies like Konga and Jumia serving a large percentage of Nigeria’s population.

Zhou, in his words, expressed that the merging success of both OPay and Opera benefits their vision of being a multi-service venture across Africa.

The strength of Opera’s brand and OPay’s emerging position will benefit both companies’ and their visions to lead many internet verticals across Africa.

Yahui Zhou, Chairman and CEO of Opera Limited.

Konga has been recovering well after an estimated 95% of its valuation was lost during the problems they encountered in their earlier years of operations. However, despite their extensive reach in the country and the relative success of Konga Express, the rise of OPay with Opera’s big pocket investors should perhaps be read as warning signals for an emerging competitor.   


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