Optasia, a global provider of AI-driven financial technology, has announced plans to list on the Prime Segment of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Main Board, aiming to raise ZAR 6.3 billion ($375 million) through a mix of new and existing share sales.
According to the disclosure on the JSE’s SENS platform on Wednesday, the company will raise ZAR 1.3 billion ($75.81 million) through the sale of new shares in an initial public offering (IPO), while existing shareholders will sell shares worth ZAR 5.0 billion ($29158 million). An additional 15% overallotment option, consisting entirely of secondary shares, will also be available.
“A JSE listing will enhance the visibility and liquidity of our shares and provide access to a deep pool of institutional capital in Africa’s most developed exchange,” the company said in the SENS statement.
The Dubai-based fintech said proceeds from the primary issuance will be used to expand its scale, fund organic growth opportunities and potential acquisitions, and strengthen its balance sheet. The secondary offering will allow early investors to realize part of their holdings and broaden the company’s shareholder base.
Salvador Anglada, Optasia CEO, described the listing as a pivotal moment for the British Virgin Islands-Incorporated company, driven by a vision to enable financial inclusion across emerging markets by leveraging its AI-Powered technology to provide credit and financial services for millions of underserved people.
“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 has continued to scale through the expansion of our geographical footprint.”
“ South Africa specifically is also an important market for us, where we do between 10% and 15% of our business already,” the CEO added.
Founded more than a decade ago by Nigerian-born Lebanese entrepreneur Bassim Haidar, Optasia uses advanced analytics to provide microloans, airtime advances, and other digital credit services to mobile network customers in emerging markets. The company operates in 38 countries, serving around 121 million monthly active users and facilitating more than 32 million loan transactions daily.
Optasia has delivered strong financial results in recent years. For the year ended 31 December 2024, it reported $151.2 million in revenue and $75.1 million in adjusted EBITDA, achieving compound annual growth rates of 10.4% and 13.1%, respectively, between 2022 and 2024.
In the first half of 2025 alone, revenue has climbed over 90% year-on-year to $117.2 million, while adjusted EBITDA rose 91.3% to $53.8 million, highlighting the company’s accelerating profitability. Since its inception, Optasia has consistently generated positive cash flow without any primary capital raises.
The planned JSE debut will place Optasia in the consumer-lending segment of the exchange’s finance and credit services category, trading under the ticker symbol OPA. Standard Bank of South Africa is serving as transaction sponsor, joint global coordinator, and stabilization manager, with Investec and Jarrett Geldenhuys as bookrunner. Webber Wentzel, Milbank, Bowmans, and Linklaters will serve as legal advisers.
Note: The figures reported in South African Rand have been converted using the official average exchange rate of R1/$0.0583 as of October 8, 2025.
