OPay, the payments app found on the phones of millions of Nigerians, has formally applied to go public in the United States. The company filed its registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 9 October 2026, and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker “OPAY”.
Technext first reported the details of the filing, including OPay’s profit figures and a planned investment of up to $200 million from Standard Bank. We have checked the key numbers against OPay’s own prospectus on the SEC website.
The filing does not mean OPay shares can be bought yet. The price range, the number of shares on offer and the listing date are all still blank. But it is the clearest look so far at how one of Africa’s biggest fintechs makes its money.
What OPay has filed
OPay Limited filed a Form F-1, the document foreign companies use to register shares for sale in the US. The company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and headquartered in Singapore, although most of its business happens in Nigeria.
Investors will not buy ordinary OPay shares directly. Instead, the company will sell American depositary shares (ADSs). These are certificates traded in New York that each represent OPay shares held by a bank. Citibank will act as the depositary.
According to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital, OPay first filed confidentially with the SEC in February 2026. Renaissance estimates the deal could raise up to $500 million. That is Renaissance’s estimate, not a figure from OPay.
Earlier reports from Bloomberg, picked up by several outlets, said the listing could value OPay at around $4 billion. OPay has not confirmed a valuation in its filing. For context, the company was valued at about $2 billion in 2021, after it raised $400 million.
The banks behind the deal
The prospectus names six underwriters: Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Standard Bank, CICC, B. Riley Securities and Needham & Company. Underwriters help set the price, find investors and manage the sale.
The numbers: from loss to profit
The most striking part of the filing is how fast OPay has grown and turned profitable. In 2024, it lost money. By the first half of 2026, it was making a solid profit.
| Period | Revenue | Net income (loss) |
|---|---|---|
| Year to 31 December 2024 | $205.7m | ($50.8m) loss |
| Year to 31 December 2025 | $536.3m | $72.5m |
| Six months to 30 June 2025 | $197.5m | $21.7m |
| Six months to 30 June 2026 | $467.1m | $90.9m |
Source: OPay Limited Form F-1, filed with the SEC on 9 October 2026.
In plain terms, revenue in the first half of 2026 was more than double the same period a year earlier, and profit was roughly four times higher.
OPay also reports a measure called gross transaction value (GTV), which is the total value of money moving through its platform. GTV was $339.1 billion in the six months to June 2026, and $558 billion over the 12 months to June 2026.
The company says it had 50.1 million monthly active users and 26.8 million daily active users as of 31 July 2026.
One country does most of the work
OPay now operates in Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia. But the filing makes clear that Nigeria is the engine. Nigeria brought in $417.6 million, or 89.5%, of OPay’s revenue in the first half of 2026. In 2025 the share was 88.1%, and in 2024 it was 76%.
So Nigeria’s share is rising, not falling, even as OPay expands elsewhere.
The Standard Bank deal
Alongside the IPO, Stanbic Africa Holdings, part of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, has agreed to buy OPay shares in a separate private placement. Standard Bank is also one of the underwriters.
The investment has a ceiling. According to the prospectus, it will be the lowest of three amounts: $200 million; 0.98% of Standard Bank Group’s qualifying regulatory capital; or a stake worth 4.99% of OPay’s shares after the deal. Standard Bank cannot sell the shares for 12 months, with some exceptions, and the deal depends on the IPO going ahead and on regulatory approvals.
For a big African lender, this is a notable bet on a mobile-first rival. Standard Bank already runs Stanbic IBTC in Nigeria, so the stake gives it a closer view of where Nigerian payments are heading.
What OPay says it will do with the money
The prospectus lists broad plans rather than exact amounts. OPay says it may spend the proceeds on new technology, better distribution, new products and services, expansion into new markets, and possible acquisitions or strategic investments. Management keeps wide freedom over how the money is used.
OPay also says it does not expect to pay dividends in the near future.
Risks OPay itself flags
Every IPO prospectus includes a long list of risks, and OPay’s offers a frank picture of doing business in Nigeria. Among the points it raises:
- Naira swings: the company warns about frequent changes in the naira exchange rate. Because it earns mostly in naira but reports in US dollars, a weaker naira can shrink its reported results.
- Regulation: OPay runs a microfinance bank in Nigeria that is supervised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It notes that rules can change, and that interest rates on some of its Nigerian credit products are higher than in other markets, which could draw scrutiny.
- Competition and cyber risk: it lists competition, cybersecurity threats and technology failures as key risks.
- Concentration: most of its loans and receivables come from Nigerian customers.
The filing also shows a large negative shareholders’ equity figure on paper. This is mostly an accounting effect of preference shares held by earlier investors, which are recorded outside equity until they convert into ordinary shares just before the IPO closes. It is common for venture-backed companies at this stage.
OPay qualifies as an “emerging growth company” under US rules, which allows lighter reporting for a few years after listing.
What this means for Nigerians
For OPay users, nothing changes today. Your wallet, transfers, POS payments, savings and debit card keep working as normal. The IPO is about who owns the company, not how the app runs.
Can Nigerians buy OPay shares? Not easily, at first. The shares will trade in New York in US dollars. Nigerians with access to foreign brokerage accounts may be able to buy them once trading starts, but they would face dollar funding, FX costs and the usual risks of a newly listed stock. Technext reports that OPay is also considering a listing on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), and Renaissance Capital says a secondary Nigerian listing is planned after the NYSE debut. No date or details have been announced.
A sign of the market’s size. OPay’s numbers show how much everyday money in Nigeria now moves through mobile apps and agent POS terminals rather than bank branches and ATMs. Investors in New York will effectively be pricing the Nigerian digital payments market.
More scrutiny, more disclosure. A listed OPay will have to publish regular results and disclose risks in detail. That could mean more transparency about fees, lending and fraud, which matters to the millions of Nigerians who use the app daily.
Jobs and competition. Fresh capital could fund more products, hiring and agent expansion. It may also push rivals such as Moniepoint, PalmPay and the traditional banks to sharpen their own offers, which is usually good for customers.
What about Ghana and Kenya?
OPay does not list Ghana or Kenya among its current markets. However, its filing says it may expand into new markets, and a successful listing would give it the cash to try. A strong debut would also encourage other African fintechs to look at public markets, following Airtel Money’s London listing earlier this month.
What happens next
The next step is an updated filing that sets a price range and the number of shares on offer. After that, OPay will market the shares to investors in a “roadshow”, then price the deal and begin trading. The listing still needs final NYSE approval. Market conditions can delay or change any IPO, so the timing is not guaranteed.
This is news, not financial advice.
Sources
- OPay Limited Form F-1 registration statement (US SEC, 9 October 2026)
- Renaissance Capital: OPay files for an estimated $500 million US IPO
- Technext: OPay’s US IPO prospectus outlines share sale, up to $200 million Standard Bank investment
- Technext: OPay makes $90.9 million profit in six months as it files for a US IPO
About the author: Steve Oke. is the editor of TechPeza, where he covers AI tools, electric vehicles, home power, fintech and smartphones for African readers.
