Technology-driven microfinancing specialist Optasia, which on Wednesday announced its intention to list on the JSE, aims to undertake a primary issuance worth about R1.3-billion to support organic growth and acquisitions.
Speaking to TechCentral in an interview on Wednesday, Optasia CEO Salvador Anglada said the listing is meant to raise capital to drive the company’s expansion across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, where it drives financial inclusion through alternative financing. Its backers include former FNB CEO Michael Jordaan, who serves as its chairman.
“Africa and Asia are growing quickly. In Africa, mobile wallets continue to expand as the primary means for people to access financial services. Drivers for this are population growth, GDP growth and mobile money expansion, so we are seeing big tailwinds on the back of that,” said Anglada.
“In Asia, the trends are the same, but the retail banks are also coming to the fore and servicing the unbanked market. The key markets we are targeting are East Asia, Kenya, Egypt and Indonesia.”
Optasia’s AI-driven platform can make credit-vetting decisions using unstructured data, where structured data often does not exist. It plugs into the systems of mobile operators and other wallet providers to obtain customer data. The data is funnelled through Optasia’s proprietary algorithms to determine the likelihood that a customer will default on a loan and what credit limit to set for them.
Customers apply for loans through retail partners such as MTN’s MoMo and Vodacom’s M-Pesa apps and are vetted using Optasia’s systems. On the back end, Optasia links to licensed financial institutions like banks to disburse the loans approved. Customers are not charged interest, only a service fee, and Optasia underwrites the loans in case of a default.
Why Johannesburg?
Anglada said the average amount disbursed to clients is US$5, with some disbursements as high as $50, depending on the market and customer credit history. Customers pay over a period of 30 days, with 30% of them being small business owners that use the money to support their operations.
Other financial products offered by Optasia include airtime advance and an overdraft facility on mobile wallets.
“We use the balance sheet of third-party banks because they are the ones that have the necessary licence,” said Anglada.
Read: Ethos-backed Optasia to float on JSE in major fintech IPO
He said the choice to list in Johannesburg and not in London or Dubai – where Optasia also has operations – is because the company is an emerging markets player and the JSE is one of the largest emeging markets exchanges in the world, with sufficient liquidity and exposure to investors from across the world. The JSE’s strong governance procedures were another factor in Optasia’s listing decision, he said.
Optasia has diverse leadership teams, boasting seven nationalities at board level and 25 across the organisation. Michael Jordaan serves a board chairman, while Bank Zero co-founder Lezanne Human – and a colleague of Jordaan’s – serves as an independent non-executive director.
In addition to the R1.3-billion share issuance, Optasia’s private shareholders plan to raise a further R5-billion from a sale of secondary shares. Optasia will not receive any proceeds from the sale of secondary shares.
The listing remains subject to regulatory approval.
Read: Vodacom processing R23-billion/day in mobile money transactions
“Today marks an important milestone for Optasia as we take a crucial step towards becoming a publicly listed company. From a single-country operation to one of the world’s largest fintechs of its kind, we’ve built a profitable, capital-light business that continues with purpose to scale,” said Anglada. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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