Optasia has secured US$330-million (R5.4-billion) in refinanced and upsized debt facilities, with Standard Bank acting as joint mandated lead arranger and underwriter in a deal that deepens the banking group’s relationship with the JSE-listed fintech.
The facilities comprise a $180-million term loan and $150-million in bank guarantees, and are designed to support Optasia’s expansion as it pivots from its original airtime advance business into AI-driven lending to the formal banking sector.
The transaction comes barely two weeks after FirstRand increased its shareholding in Optasia to 26.1%, spending R1.5-billion to acquire an additional 6% stake from founder Bassim Haidar. FirstRand first invested in Optasia in October 2025 ahead of the company’s JSE listing – the largest fintech listing on the exchange last year.
Taken together, the two deals represent an unusually rapid accumulation of institutional backing from South Africa’s biggest banking groups for a company that has been publicly listed for less than a year.
The interest from both banks appears tied to Optasia’s shift beyond its core business of airtime advances for mobile operators.
Speaking to TechCentral at the opening of the company’s Johannesburg offices last month, CEO Salvador Anglada described the formal banking sector as a “massive opportunity” for growth, saying the AI-powered credit-vetting algorithms Optasia built for mobile wallet transactions can be applied directly to help banks increase lending while lowering default rates.
AI-led lending model
Anglada said Optasia’s microfinancing business has begun to overtake airtime advances as a revenue driver – a shift that makes the company a more strategic proposition for banking partners looking to extend credit into underserved segments.
The $330-million refinancing gives Optasia the kind of flexible, long-term capital structure it needs to fund expansion across multiple emerging markets. Standard Bank said the deal was structured to enhance funding certainty, expand capacity and provide long-term flexibility as the company scales.
Optasia operates across emerging markets, using AI-driven models to provide financial services to underbanked populations. The African fintech market – led by South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya – is projected to grow to $65-billion by 2030, according to a report by BDO.
Read: Optasia wants to do for banks what it did for telcos
The speed at which Optasia is attracting institutional capital suggests the market sees its AI-led lending model as one of the more credible bets in Africa’s fintech sector. Whether the company can convert that backing into sustained growth beyond airtime advances will determine whether the banks’ confidence is well placed. – (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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