Leading fintech platform, Optasia, has made its debut to great fanfare on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
The Dubai-based group officially listed on the JSE (4 November 2025) following an initial public offering (IPO) priced at R19 per share – the top of its announced range.
Shares were several times oversubscribed on the day. ‘The offering raised R6.5 billion, implying a market capitalisation of R23.5 billion based on 1.23 billion ordinary shares in issue’, reports Moneyweb.
Optasia leveragesproprietary AI technology to empower mobile operators, financial institutions and digital service providers, extending credit and financial access to underserved populations.
JSE Group CEO Leila Fourie said this IPO marks a significant milestone for the bourse and reflects a signal of progress and affirmation of confidence in South Africa’s capital markets.
“The listing reinforces the JSE’s role as a trusted capital raising platform for companies with global ambition and local impact, and supports Africa’s potential to scale fintech solutions across emerging economies.”
In conversation with Stephen Grootes, Optasia Group CEO Salvador Anglada says FirstRand’s acquisition of a 20% shareholding ahead of the listing signified a vote of confidence in the company, helping to oversubscribe their IPO.
The AI-powered fintech group is also eyeing ‘organic’ expansion in the African, Asian and Latin American markets.
Anglada highlights the differences in the microfinance and airtime business models in Asia and Africa.
“In the airtime space in Southeast Asia we are quite active and successful. With microfinance it’s a different model – if you look at Africa, you have mobile money and the mobile wallet dominating the space, with the mobile operators mostly taking ownership. In Asia, usually the telco operators and the mobile operators are in different hands.”
“In South Africa, and Africa in general, we have a lot of presence in airtime solutions and we need to find the right space to enter as well into microfinance.”
In both Asia and Africa, Optasia is looking to find the right partners for this purpose, Anglada says.
Scroll up to the audio player to hear more from the Optasia Group CEO