African payments giant DPO Group gets licence in Nigeria to take on Flutterwave and Paystack

In case you were wondering what DPO Group, a payments services provider for African businesses, which was acquired by Dubai-headquartered payments giant, Network International back in 2020 for $288 million has been up to - we've got an update for you.

While the takeover was expected to have closed in the fourth quarter of 2020, it was finalised at a total consideration of $291.3 million in September 2021, with the aim of becoming the fastest-growing and most innovative customer-centric payments company in the Middle East and Africa, bringing over 60,000 merchants across 21 countries in Africa.

The deal is significant because Africa's online payment market was valued at more than $30 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% between 2021 and 2025, according to data from Edgar, Dunn & Company. Analysts also believe that Africa could account for 40% of Network International’s annual revenues by 2024.

Today, DPO Group announced that it has been granted a licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide payments services to businesses across Nigeria, through its local subsidiary One Payment Limited which will enable its payment solution, DPO Pay for businesses in Nigeria and across Africa.

The payments giant will operate as an independent payment solutions services company in Nigeria competing with the likes of fintech companies such as Opay, Flutterwave, and Paystack.

The deal is the largest acquisition in the African fintech sector to date, followed by Paystack's $200 million acquisition by Stripe in October 2020.