A Nigerian startup company, OPay, has raised $50 million from investors. The company confirmed that this was the total amount of funding raised. Opay is doing this in a bid to expand its reach across the continent and Nigeria.
You may have seen some lemon green helmets and motorbikes around town. They seem to be taking over the streets from the popular bike ride service company, Gokada. They share a similar colour and have the Opay logo behind their backs. Apparently, Opay is not just a bike-hailing service; it also offers a mobile online payment service.
The new capital acquired is expected to strengthen the startup’s business in Nigeria and across the continent. The company intends to improve its bike ride-sharing and food delivery services. Its parent company, Opera Limited, says it is impressed with the progress made by the Opay so far.
The Chairman of the company, Yahui Zhou, said,
“By incubating OPay and supporting the company through its rapid acceleration, Opera has also demonstrated its ability to leverage its brand and consumer reach to create attractive fast-growing businesses on the African continent.”
Other lead investors are IDG Capital, Meituan-Dianping, GSR Ventures, and Sequoia China. However, Opera seems to be a major investor in the business too.
Other Opay Services
Zhou added that they were “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 ride-sharing and food delivery.”
The company launched a mobile payment service in Nigeria in 2018. This is the platform which the other businesses are now riding on. As of June 2019, it has been able to gather over 40,000 active agents. It also boasts of getting a transaction volume of over $5 million daily.
Apart from the ride service, ORide, it also has a food delivery service called OFood. These businesses are also growing just as rapidly.