AI-powered fintech company Optasia hopes to expand into most African countries over the next five years to increase its base of 120 million monthly active customers, its chief executive told Semafor in Johannesburg.
The Dubai-headquartered company uses machine learning to provide micro-financing and mobile phone airtime credit to people who often don’t have traditional bank accounts. It debuted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange this month, becoming the exchange’s largest fintech IPO.
Optasia already operates in 38 countries — with just over half of those in Africa — but is aiming to cover 80% of the continent in the near future, CEO Salvador Anglada said. “The number of people that are unbanked in the world is 1.7 billion, so we are only providing service to six, seven percent of them. For us, it’s about how we’re going to double this,” he added.
