OPay was used to scaling regulatory walls until its IPO

OPay, a Nigerian fintech, gained widespread popularity due to its ability to navigate regulatory challenges. The company initially launched as a mobile money operator in 2018, acquiring Paycom, a mobile-money operator, from Opera, a browser company owned by a consortium led by Zhou Yahui. Despite facing a ₦2 billion ($1.4 million) minimum capital requirement from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2018, OPay managed to launch mobile payments using an agent banking model that reached unbanked people.

Throughout its journey, OPay ventured into various verticals such as ORide, a motorcycle-hailing business, OFood, a food delivery service, and OBus, a bus-sharing service, in an attempt to create a super app experience for Nigerians. However, these ventures ultimately proved unsuccessful. In 2020, OPay faced a reputational shock after Hindenburg Research accused Opera of targeting Nigeria's poor population with predatory loans. The company responded by denying the allegations and removing the lending product from its app.

In 2022, OPay capitalized on the redesigned naira notes and the resulting cash shortage in Nigeria. The CBN's decision forced several commercial banks' apps to fail, providing OPay with an opportunity to emerge as a trusted digital payment option. By focusing on payments and agent-banking, OPay has become one of Nigeria's largest fintechs, with 50 million users.