JSE-listed AI-powered financial technology platform company Optasia increased its revenue by 76% year-on-year to $265.4-million for the year ended December 31, 2025, while its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased by 52% year-on-year to $115-million.

The results exceeded the guidance provided at the time of the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in November 2025, Optasia CEO Salvador Anglada said during a presentation of the company’s results on March 16.

The credit Optasia facilitated for its business partners during the 2025 financial year increased by 44% to $5.5-billion, up from $3.8-billion in the prior financial year.

The group also improved monetisation across its platform, with take rate increasing to 4.8%, up from 4% in the 2024 financial year, which reflects the growing contribution of Micro Financing Solutions.

Further, excluding one-off costs, including those related to its listing in November, normalised net income increased by 57.1% to $57.8-million for the year under review, up from $36.8-million in the prior year, which reflects the company’s strong underlying operating performance.

The company's adjusted Ebitda margin remains resilient at 43.2%, down from 49.7% in the 2024 financial year, which moderated slightly owing to the costs associated with microlending.

“This shift reflects the deliberate strategic evolution toward micro finance services, which have stronger underlying unit economics and higher profit per unit of distribution. This is evidenced by the improvement in adjusted Ebitda to distributed value, which increased to 2.1%, up from 2% in the 2024 financial year.

“Disciplined cost management and continuous operational optimisation remain central to sustaining long-term value creation,” said Anglada.

Additionally, net working capital increased to $107.2-million, up from $65.8-million in the 2024 financial year, which is equivalent to 40.4% of revenue and is in line with 40% guided at the IPO, with levels improving and stabilising during the second half of the year.

This was primarily driven by strong growth in its Micro Financing Solutions revenues, which increased by 149% year-on-year, where invoicing and collection cycles are typically longer.

Micro Financing Solutions now accounts for 63% of group revenue, as Optasia advances its strategic product mix evolution to expand its financial services offering and strengthen unit economics.

Total debt outstanding as at December 31, 2025, was $106.8-million, up from $88.2-million in the prior financial year.

Optasia continued to scale responsibly during the year while maintaining a low default rate of 1.2%, in line with its IPO guidance, which accounts for the accelerated scaling of microlending services.

This low default rate demonstrated the effectiveness of the group’s AI-driven credit decisioning and disciplined risk management framework, Anglada said.

Optasia’s strategic priority is to diversify growth and replicate its proven model in large, underpenetrated markets while extending responsible digital financial access to millions of additional underserved customers.

It is actively focused on expanding its geographic footprint across Africa and accelerating its presence in Asia, while deepening service penetration in existing markets.

During the year under review, eight new deployments were launched that expanded Micro Financing Solutions into new markets including Cameroon, Ghana and Congo-Brazzaville, and Airtime Credit Solutions into markets including Liberia, Eswatini and Malaysia.

Further, the total number of users interacting with the group’s services increased by 43% year-on-year, and surpassed 432-million, and this growth provided evidence of improved adoption across its platform, he noted.

The group's expansion was supported by its ecosystem-led approach, which brought together mobile network operators, mobile money providers, digital banks and financial institutions to enable financial access at true scale, he said.

This year, Optasia aims to launch several new deployments and expand its suite of credit scoring and digital lending solutions across existing and additional markets.

Ongoing rollouts across Africa, Asia and the Middle East were expected to generate new revenue streams and further strengthen its market presence, he noted.

“Our exceptional operational and financial performance in 2025, together with the continued growth in market share, customer adoption rates and recognition of our innovative solutions underscores the success of our strategy,” he said.

The strong trading performance to date this year positioned the company for sustained growth and profitability, with near-term revenue and earnings growth, driven primarily by continued expansion in Micro Financing Solutions, expected to outperform IPO guidelines, he noted.

The company's medium-term ambitions focus on sustaining healthy low- to mid-twenties growth across revenue, adjusted Ebitda and net income, supported by geographic expansion, deeper penetration and continued product innovation.

“We are confident in our ability to deliver robust revenue and earnings growth in 2026 primarily through further expansion in mobile financial services.

“We remain focused on pursuing disciplined, responsible scaling, innovation and geographic reach to drive long-term sustainable value whilst delivering on our vision to enable responsible financial empowerment for a more inclusive world,” said Anglada.

The group's ongoing investment and advances in AI and machine learning are expected to further amplify its capabilities and drive greater precision, efficiency and scalability.

Additionally, it plans to broaden the functionality of its platform and progress the development of complementary products designed to meet diverse local market needs.

Meanwhile, Optasia announced on March 16 that it had entered into an agreement to acquire prepaid electricity credit access fintech Finergi Global for an initial consideration of $30-million, with a contingent deferred cash consideration of $10-million, if defined performance milestones were met.

Finergi uses patented technology to provide real-time credit access through prepaid electricity systems, enabling it to transform essential services into a platform for financial inclusion.

This acquisition was expected to provide Optasia with an additional revenue stream in the coming years, and the company intended to roll out Finergi to about 15 countries in Africa over the next three years, Anglada said.