OPay’s new valuation pegged at $3.1 billion per securities filling

Fintech Giant OPay is now valued at $3.1 billion, cementing its unicorn status and positioning it as one of Africa’s finest success stories.

The valuation figures were revealed in a recent securities filing by the Norwegian browser group, Opera, which pegged its 9.7% stake in OPay at $294.6 million, suggesting a $3.1 billion valuation for the digital payments platform.

The latest figures suggest steady growth, as Opera’s 2024 filing revealed a $258.3m stake, implying a $2.7 billion valuation for OPay that year. Compared to 2021, when SoftBank valued the fintech at $2 billion in a $ 400 M Series C round, OPay has registered 50% growth since then.

Opay’s $3.1 billion valuation puts it slightly ahead of Flutterwave, Moniepoint and Paystack at $3 billion, $1 billion and $200 million, respectively.

Opay’s speculated move for an IPO listing

Despite no official announcements from OPay’s management on a possible Initial Public Offering (IPO). The fintech firm has made strategic moves to equip its management team. Late last year, OPay appointed a new global management team.

The new recruits include James Zhou as executive chairman, Lars Boilesen, former Opera CEO, as co-CEO, and James Perry, a former Citigroup managing director, as chief financial officer. James Perry’s recruitment was the giveaway, as he has over 25 years of investment banking experience and is very astute at navigating public markets, a skill set that comes in very handy in IPO listings.

This remains just speculation, as at the time of the report, no filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has confirmed any listing plans.

Opay hit the Nigerian market as a super app offering various services, including food delivery, ride-hailing, and e-commerce, before pivoting fully into payments. Now the fintech brand has disrupted traditional banking, serving over 50 million users in Nigeria while processing north of $12 billion in transactions each month.

OPay’s unintended CBN advantage

OPay’s hold on the Nigerian payments market is about to become even stronger following a new CBN directive that became effective this month. The Apex bank issued a fresh regulatory directive stating that point-of-sale agents must work with only one financial institution. Analysts believe Opay will benefit from this directive, as it already enjoys an extensive user base in Nigeria and reportedly holds the most bank accounts among the big new-generation fintech brands.

The directive also gives OPay the opportunity to leverage its existing users to compete with Moniepoint in the point-of-sale market, an area Moniepoint dominates.

Opera Group, an internet business outfit that owns the Opera Browser and Opera News, was the initial backer of OPay, hosting the app on its platform. Opera’s stake in fintech now represents about 26% of the company’s total equity.

A 9.7% stake in Opay puts Opera at a good position to see its stake in the fintech firm hit $500 million, should Opay decide to go public within the next three years.

Last updated: April 27, 2026