The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2009–2026
Paga bet Nigeria would pay by phone: 21M users, N17.1tn in 2025, expanding
Paga bet unbanked Nigerians would trust agents and phones; 21M users, N17.1tn in 2025
Paga
What the business is
Paga is a Nigerian payments network that lets users send, receive, and store money by phone, with agents for cash in and cash out.
Starting capital：$45 million raised to date (through 2025)
How it started
Tayo Oviosu founded Paga in 2009 after seeing how little digital payment infrastructure Nigeria had; the idea was that phones plus agents could serve people banks ignored.
What happened
It grew steadily in Nigeria, stayed private and profitable, and expanded its product line into SME tools (Doroki) and an infrastructure business (Paga Engine) that other companies build on.
How it ended up
Still independent and profitable; processing N17.1 trillion in 2025 and now expanding beyond Nigeria into new markets, stablecoins, and AI-enabled commerce.
Background
Paga was founded in 2009, when Tayo Oviosu bet that most Nigerians would never get bank accounts but would still need to pay, send, and receive money. Instead of building a bank, he built a payments network reachable through phones and a chain of local agents, so cash users could deposit and withdraw without ever opening an account. Seventeen years later, that bet has held: Paga says it has served over 21 million users and processed more than N23 trillion since launch.
The company stayed privately owned and profitable while many fintech rivals raised huge rounds and consolidated. In 2024 it processed N8.7 trillion, and in 2025 volumes jumped 96% to N17.1 trillion (about $12 billion). It now runs three lines: Paga consumer payments, Doroki for small businesses, and Paga Engine, its infrastructure business. In 2025 TechCabal still ranked it among Nigeria's biggest fintechs.
In 2026 Oviosu stepped back from running Nigeria day-to-day to become Group CEO, handing the local business to an acting CEO. The company is expanding into new African markets, launched US banking for the diaspora with Regent Bank, and became PayPal's local partner in Nigeria. It has raised $45 million to date and says it is planning a fresh round to fund this next phase.
What has to be true
- Cash users needed a way to transact without a bank account, and agents made that possible locally.
- Paga kept ownership and profitability instead of selling to a larger bank or fintech.
- Scale in Nigeria (N17.1tn in 2025) gave it credibility and leverage for partnerships.
- The same rails could be reused for new markets, stablecoins, and AI commerce.
What can be applied
Betting on the layer beneath banking—payment rails reached through agents—let Paga stay independent, profitable, and expand while bank-centric rivals consolidated.
Aftermath
As of April 2026, Paga is profitable, processing over N1 trillion monthly, and restructuring for expansion: Oviosu leads Paga Labs (stablecoins, blockchain, AI-enabled commerce) as Group CEO while Opeyemi Oyinloye runs Paga Nigeria pending regulatory approval. Partnerships with Regent Bank (US diaspora banking, Sept 2025) and PayPal (local partner, Jan 2026) anchor the international push, and a new funding round plus acquisitions are expected.
Sources
- Tayo Oviosu steps into Group CEO role in major Paga restructuring
- The biggest fintech companies in Nigeria (2025)
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