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Optasia H1 revenue rises 58% to $185.3m

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb news editor
Johannesburg, 14 Sept 2026
Salvador Anglada, Optasia CEO.
Salvador Anglada, Optasia CEO.

Financial intelligence and technology-enabled credit solutions provider Optasia reported a 58% year-on-year increase in revenue to $185.3 million for the six months ended 30 June.

This was driven by growth in mobile and financial services (MFS) and the scaling of newer deployments.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 45% to $77.9 million, while normalised net income rose 40% to $39.3 million.

Adjusted free cash flow increased 150% to $32.7 million, with cash conversion improving to 41.9% from 24.3%.

Salvador Anglada, Optasia CEO, says: “The first half of 2026 delivered strong growth across the group. Revenue increased 58% versus H1 2025 to $185.3 million, adjusted EBITDA increased 45% to $77.9 million and normalised net income increased 40% to $39.3 million.

Adjusted free cash flow increased to $32.7 million, with cash conversion improving to 41.9%, while net debt remained low at 0.20x annualised adjusted EBITDA.”

MFS remained the company’s main growth driver, with revenue rising 84% year-on-year and accounting for 72% of group revenue, compared with 62% in the first half of 2025.

Optasia says growth was broad-based across its service lines, with Ghana continuing to scale strongly, and Pakistan, Indonesia and Congo-Brazzaville also reporting strong performance.

“Asia remains an important part of our , with the performance of Pakistan and Indonesia reinforcing the opportunity across the region,” says Anglada.

“Across established markets, growth is increasingly being supported by deeper penetration, broader eligibility, higher usage and the introduction of additional products and limits where customer behaviour and portfolio performance support them. Ghana demonstrates the opportunity to scale multiple propositions successfully within a single market, a model we are increasingly applying elsewhere.”

Distributed value facilitated for Optasia’s business partners rose 46% to $3.5 billion during the period.

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Excluding Nigeria, Airtime Credit Solutions (ACS) monthly active users increased 6.1%, while MFS monthly active users rose 14.8%.

The company says distributed value grew faster than its active-user base, reflecting increased usage and a higher-value product mix.

The group’s take rate increased to 5.3% from 4.9%, which Optasia attributed to stronger and the growing contribution of MFS.

Credit performance remained relatively stable, with the default rate increasing to 1.3% from 1.1% in the first half of 2025.

ACS revenue increased 16.6% year-on-year, despite the temporary suspension of airtime-credit services in Nigeria during the period.

“In Nigeria, all operator partners were live again by 24 June 2026. Services are now live under a multi-provider structure, with customer allocation based on performance. FY2026 targets assume the current run-rate under this structure; further represents upside,” says Anglada.

“H1’s performance underscores confidence in our full-year targets, which the group has updated to 30% to 40% growth across revenue, adjusted EBITDA and normalised net income. H1 represents strong progress against these objectives, with further growth expected from the scaling of existing markets, new deployments and the next wave of products and partnerships.”

The three largest markets accounted for about 57% of group revenue during the period, with Ghana contributing approximately 31.5%.

Optasia said it expects its revenue base to become more diversified as established and newer markets scale.

Adjusted EBITDA margin fell to 42% from 45.9%, which the company attributed to the increasing contribution of MFS to the group’s revenue mix.

The company generated $25.2 million in net cash from operating activities, up from $13.3 million a year earlier.

At 30 June, net debt stood at $30.6 million, with net debt to annualised adjusted EBITDA at 0.20 times. Optasia had $76.3 million in cash, alongside committed borrowing facilities.

Strategic progress

Optasia launched three new MFS deployments during the first half of 2026, covering merchant lending, overdraft and cash-advance products.

The company launched its first merchant-lending proposition in Ghana in May, followed by a second merchant-lending deployment in Uganda after the reporting period. An overdraft proposition was launched in Gabon, while a cash-advance proposition went live in South Sudan.

The company notes it had 12 deployments in the delivery phase, with more than eight targeted for launch during the second half of 2026.

“We are progressing opportunities across several markets, including further deployments in South Africa, DRC, Ghana and Iraq, while continuing the work required to build positions in large markets such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Mozambique.”

Optasia is also expanding beyond its established mobile-operator and mobile-money distribution channels, with banking and utility ecosystems being developed as additional routes to customers.

The acquisition of Finergi has extended the company into utility credit, while its strategic relationship with FirstRand has also deepened.

FirstRand increased its shareholding in Optasia to 26.1%. The company says its collaboration with FNB had progressed into product development and implementation, including the integration of Optasia’s decisioning capabilities into FNB Connect’s airtime-advance proposition and development of a cash-advance proposition within the FNB wallet ecosystem.

Optasia points out that product development was also moving into deployment, with further embedded-credit propositions being developed using greater product configurability and decisioning capabilities.

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