Nigeria's payments giant OPay is preparing to take the next major leap in its growth story. The SoftBank-backed fintech has hired Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan Chase to lead a planned US initial public offering, targeting a valuation of approximately $4 billion. No public filing has been made and no official statement has been issued by OPay, but the appointment of three of Wall Street's most prominent investment banks is a signal the company is advancing its plans in earnest.

From Super App to Focused Fintech

OPay's digital banking app has rivalled services from commercial banks over the past two years, making the firm one of Nigeria's best-known financial services companies. The platform took off in 2019 with ambitions to be a super app offering features including motorcycle taxi bookings, food deliveries, and quick loans, but a narrower focus on finance in recent years has coincided with a jump in its private valuation. That discipline appears to have paid off. The company now serves more than 40 million users and, alongside rivals such as Moniepoint and PalmPay, controls the majority of Nigeria's mobile money segment.


The Valuation Journey

The company is seeking a valuation of $4 billion, which would double the $2 billion valuation it achieved in a 2021 funding round. It could launch the IPO by the end of the year, according to reports, though the exact timing and size of the transaction are still under consideration.

Opera, the Norwegian browser group that incubated OPay in 2018, had already signalled strong confidence in an IPO outcome. An April securities filing showed Opera assigned an 85% probability to an OPay listing within two years, valuing its 9.5% stake at $294.6 million at the end of 2025.

What a Successful Listing Would Mean

For OPay's early investors, including SoftBank Group, Sequoia China, Redpoint China, and Source Code Capital, a US listing would provide a long-anticipated liquidity event while offering the company access to deeper pools of global capital.

The stakes extend beyond OPay itself. A successful US listing for OPay would rank among the largest by an African tech company in recent years and could pave the way for peers such as Flutterwave and Moniepoint. Africa's fintech sector has been waiting for a defining public market moment, and if OPay delivers at the projected valuation, it could reshape how global investors think about African digital finance for years to come.