Opay, a Nigerian mobile payments and consumer platform announced raising a $400 million Series C led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, according to Bloomberg.
The company says it will use the funding, SoftBank’s first investment in an African startup, to help replicate and extend its offerings to nearby and adjacent market with the goal of helping emerging markets reach faster economic development.
“We believe our investment will help the company extend its offering to adjacent markets and replicate its successful business model in Egypt and other countries in the region,” SoftBank Group Corp. managing director Kentaro Matsui told Bloomberg.
The funding round also included participation from Sequoia Capital China, DragonBall Capital, Redpoint China, Source Code Capital, SoftBank Ventures Asia and 3W Capital, according to OPay.
The announcement follows OPay’s previous two funding rounds in 2019 of $50 million and $120 million, with the Series C bringing OPay’s total funding to $570 million and a valuation of $2 billion.
OPay offers a number of mobile-first, digital financial services to individuals and merchants which include mini Point-of-Sales (PoS) systems and online merchant accounts.
The company has attempted to introduce mobility and logistic e-commerce and fintech services, but have struggled to introduce these products (such as ride-hailing and bike-sharing) in the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns.
Founded in 2018 by parent company Opera, which CEO Yahui Zhou also operates, OPay has reported a 4.5x increase in monthly transactions since December 2020. The company also claims to process approximately 80% of mobile money bank transfers in Nigeria, and 20% of non-merchant PoS transactions, according to TechCrunch.
In other recent fintech news, Robinhood competitor creator DriveWealth raised a $450 million funding round led by Insight Partners and Accel. Aspiration also plans to go public via SPAC.