Chinese-backed African fintech OPay has raised $400 million in funding, led by Softbank which was backed by SoftBank and expects to expand its market in the Middle East with the help of fresh funds, according to media reports. The current valuation of the company stands at $2 billion.
Apart from Softbank, other participants of the funding round included Sequoia Capital China, Redpoint China, Source Code Capital, Softbank Ventures Asia, DragonBall Capital and 3W Capital. The news of this latest funding comes just three months after it was reported by the media that the company is having discussions regarding raising the valuation of OPay to $1.5 billion in the current market. The news of this latest financing comes after two years OPay announced two funding rounds in 2019 worth $50 million and $120 million.
OPay CEO Yahui Zhou, told the media, “OPay wants to be the power that helps emerging markets reach faster economic development.” OPay was founded in 2018 and had its presence primarily concentrated in Nigeria until 2020. Even though the plans of becoming a super app have not come to a close, the app has been providing its customers with digital services like mobility, logistics, e-commerce and fintech at affordable prices.
The mobile money arm of the company is the most successful one and OPay achieved this by allowing unbanked and underbanked users in Nigeria where they are able to send and receive money and pay bills aided by thousands of agents. All these factors have led OPay to grow at an unprecedented rate.