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# The little-known fintech making FirstRand's R5bn bet look smart
- URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/the-little-known-fintech-making-firstrands-r5bn-bet-look-smart/
- Published: 2026-07-06T03:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-06T03:29:59.000Z
- Description: Optasia's shares had their best day since listing after the mobile-lending group told investors its revenue could jump as much as 60%.
- Author: Christian Maidman
- Tags: Companies, Business Bagel News

FirstRand does not usually chase unknowns. But the banking group behind FNB has quietly poured nearly R5 billion into Optasia, an AI-led fintech most South Africans have never heard of, and on Thursday the market finally saw why. Optasia's shares jumped as much as 16% in intraday trade before closing 6.46% higher at R15.99, their best day since the company listed on the JSE in November.

## What sparked the jump

The trigger was a trading update for the six months to end-June. Optasia told investors it expects revenue to come in 50% to 60% higher than a year earlier when it reports its interim results in September, helped by strong growth in Ghana, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Republic of Congo. It also reaffirmed its full-year outlook of revenue and adjusted earnings (its EBITDA measure) both growing more than 30%. The heart of the business is small, instant loans delivered over the phone, which now make up about 72% of revenue and have become the group's biggest growth engine.

## Why FirstRand keeps buying in

FirstRand first bought a 20% stake for nearly R5 billion, then lifted its holding to 26.1% in March. The appeal is scale: Optasia, founded in 2012, lends more than $15 million a day, processes about 1.5 billion credit decisions a month and operates in 38 countries. The update also showed it can absorb shocks. A two-month regulatory shutdown of its airtime-lending business in Nigeria, after it fell foul of new rules on non-traditional lending in Africa's most populous nation, was offset by growth elsewhere; the service only restarted the week before. That spread across many emerging markets is exactly what let the group keep growing while one country stumbled. For a bank whose home market is growing slowly, a bigger slice of a fast-scaling lender across Africa and Asia is a useful hedge.

## What comes next

Optasia has just pushed into two more markets, Gabon and South Sudan, and launched its first loans aimed at merchants rather than only consumers, a product it plans to roll out across its existing footprint. Thursday's jump suggests investors are warming to FirstRand's bet, but the real proof comes in September, when the actual half-year numbers land.