OPay and PalmPay. Two Chinese-backed fintech apps with a presence in Nigeria. Both of them play in the mobile money space. One of them green, the other purple. Both of them want to go public; OPay is targeting the United States in a $4 billion listing, announced in May, and now, PalmPay is heading to Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported.
The more interesting part is that Chinese investors may now have an exit pipeline for Africa-focused tech companies—and rather unsurprisingly, it’s not on African stock exchanges.
According to Bloomberg, PalmPay, a profitable fintech, is discussing a funding round that could raise about $200 million and value the company at over $1 billion. The company is also preparing for a potential Hong Kong listing, though the plans are still under discussion.
Explain like I’m new here: PalmPay launched in Nigeria in 2019 with backing from Chinese smartphone manufacturer Transsion Holdings and semiconductor giant MediaTek, and most recently expanded into South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, and Tanzania. Transsion owns the Tecno, Infinix, and itel brands that dominate much of Africa’s smartphone market, giving PalmPay a distribution advantage that few fintech startups enjoy.
Between the lines: A Hong Kong listing is the part that makes this interesting. Most African fintechs have traditionally looked to New York or London for initial public offerings (IPOs). PalmPay is pointing in a different direction, toward Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), which has become one of the world’s busiest equity fundraising venues.
The timing is not random. HKEX finished 2025 as the world’s largest IPO fundraising market, raising $37.4 billion across 119 listings, while listings on second-placed NASDAQ raised less than $30 billion,…
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Read Full Article by Emmanuel Nwosu at techcabal.com
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