OPay pulls $304M US IPO over undisclosed foreign regulatory probe
OPay, the SoftBank-backed Nigerian fintech giant, withdrew its planned $304 million US initial public offering on Friday, October 30, after an undisclosed foreign regulator launched an inquiry. The company had aimed to list on the NYSE under ticker "OPay" at a valuation exceeding $4 billion, with Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Standard Bank, and CICC as underwriters.
OPay described the inquiry as relating to a jurisdiction "immaterial to its core operations" and insisted the probe shouldn't reflect on its business performance, financial condition, or regulatory standing. The company expects the matter resolved "in the near future" and confirmed its Nigeria operations—serving 50 million monthly active users as of July—remain unaffected.
The withdrawal is a significant setback for Africa's most valuable fintech, which hit a $1 billion revenue run rate in Q2 2026 with 137% year-over-year growth and 19% net margins in the first half. OPay raised $400 million at a $2 billion valuation in 2021, making this IPO a highly anticipated milestone for Nigerian tech on the global stage.
With the IPO paused but not cancelled, the key question becomes whether the regulatory issue is truly peripheral or signals deeper compliance risks. For Nigeria's fintech ecosystem watching OPay's global trajectory, will this delay deter other startups from pursuing US listings, or will OPay's resolution set a precedent for navigating cross-border regulatory scrutiny?