Fintech OPay is reportedly weighing a share sale on the Nigerian Exchange even as it prepares for a long-anticipated US listing, while South African asset manager Coronation has sold more than $6.3 million of its stake in retailer SPAR. Separately, four African startups announced new funding this week.

OPay could bring its $4 billion IPO ambitions to the Nigerian Exchange

OPay, the Nigeria-focused fintech famous for its lightning-speed transfers and its green army of point-of-sale (PoS) devices, has spent months preparing for a big debut on the American capital market. Now, in a slightly unexpected turn, the company may also be preparing to sell shares to investors back home through the Nigerian Exchange (NGX). It is unclear whether OPay could list exclusively in Nigeria or pursue a dual listing, but either route would put one of the country’s best-known fintechs under a different kind of public scrutiny and give local investors a chance to buy into a company that has largely operated at private-market scale so far.

What happened: According to local publication Nairametrics, OPay could be planning to list its shares on the NGX, though the company has not officially confirmed the plans. The timing, the size of the offer, and the number of shares it could sell are still unknown.

Background: In May, Bloomberg reported that OPay was planning a US public listing, seeking a valuation of $4 billion. At the end of 2025, Opera, one of its key investors, held a 9.5% stake in OPay worth $294.6 million, implying a $3.10 billion valuation. By the end of Q2 2026, that investment had grown to $300.9 million in fair-value gain, according to Opera's results, showing that OPay's valuation had ticked up slightly to $3.17 billion. If the $4 billion valuation ask goes according to plan, OPay's listing would considerably grow its current $3.17 billion worth.

Investor interest: The fintech's performance is also drawing investor and potential stakeholder interest. In August, Bloomberg reported that Standard Group, South Africa's largest lender, was in talks to acquire an OPay stake before it goes public. Earlier this month, Temi Popoola, chief executive officer of the NGX, urged the Nigerian President to require Nigerian fintechs to list on the stock exchange, pointing out that companies such as OPay and PalmPay, which operate mainly in Nigeria, are considering foreign public listings. However, it is too soon to know whether that appeal affected OPay's plans, especially without the fintech explicitly confirming its reported plans to list on the NGX.

Why the NGX might look interesting: In the first seven months of 2026, the NGX's All-Share Index, which tracks the performance of NGX-listed stocks, rose by 57%. By the end of July, the total value of those companies had jumped by ₦58.9 trillion ($43.8 billion) to ₦158.2 trillion ($117.8 billion). The surge and the exchange's strong performance could convince fintechs such as OPay that there is deep market participation and local capital to tap if they look in that direction, while also underscoring why a domestic listing would matter for an exchange that wants more high-profile technology names on its board.

Coronation trims its SPAR stake by more than $6.3 million

Coronation Asset Management, a South African asset manager that also operates in Nigeria, has sold over R100 million ($6.3 million) worth of shares in SPAR, but it has not walked away from the South African retailer.

What happened: Coronation, an institutional investor in SPAR, sold part of its beneficial interest in the company. Following the sale, its stake decreased from 10.89% to 9.53%, according to its corporate filing on Thursday. Based on SPAR's roughly 192.6 million issued shares, that is about 2.62 million shares. At SPAR's share price around the time of the announcement, the sale was worth about R104 million to R105 million ($6.52 million–$6.58 million).

Background: Coronation manages money for clients, so it can buy or sell part of its stake in a listed company without exiting its entire position. The fund manager still owns about 18.36 million SPAR shares, making it one of the retailer's biggest institutional shareholders. The sale does not signal a full exit, but it shows that Coronation is willing to trim its position even as it remains a major shareholder.

State of play: Coronation's stake reduction is roughly one in every eight SPAR shares it previously held. The original disclosure puts the sale at more than R100 million (about $6.26 million) at the same exchange rate. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), a South African government-owned fund, remains SPAR's largest institutional shareholder with about 18.63%, followed by Allan Gray, a local investment company, with about 8.53%.

The bigger picture: Coronation's sale is not necessarily a vote of no confidence in SPAR, as it still holds a significant stake in the company. The more useful signal is whether Coronation keeps trimming its SPAR stake, starts buying again, or holds its 9.53% position.

Funding Tracker

• Swvl, an Egyptian mobility startup, raised $13 million in strategic investment from Coefficient LP. (Aug 26)
• Verascient, a South African AI-infrastructure company, raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round from Founder Collective, Andrena Ventures, Cambridge Enterprise, and Summit Ventures. (Aug 24)
• Flowt, a Kenyan fintech startup, raised an undisclosed amount in pre-seed funding from Delta40 Fund I, Impacc, and Argidius Foundation. (Aug 25)
• ThriveAgric, a Nigerian agritech startup, raised $3.93 million in a debut commercial paper sale, a debt funding round from institutional investors. (Aug 25)

Elsewhere on the continent, Zambia is building the digital infrastructure for a new carbon market, which raises the question of what a carbon registry is and why it matters for Africa's climate-tech future.

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Written by Yemi Kareem, Emmanuel Nwosu, and Zia Yusuf; edited by Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade.