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Lesaka Technologies

“Can Lesaka become Africa's dominant financial technology platform by owning the full stack — acquiring, banking, lending, and insurance — for both underserved consumers and SMB merchants across Southern Africa?”

Founded1997
HQRosebank, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
FoundersSerge Belamant
IndustryFintech / SMB banking
The story

Founded in 1997 as Aplitec/Net1 UEPS Technologies, Lesaka built its early business around proprietary biometric payment technology used to distribute South African government social grants. Following regulatory pressures and leadership change in 2017, the company pivoted from a government-contract-dependent model toward a financial inclusion platform. The 2022 rebrand to Lesaka marked a deliberate shift to a three-segment fintech platform (Merchant, Consumer, Enterprise), and the 2024 acquisition of Adumo added a full card-acquiring and merchant-processing stack targeting SMBs across Southern Africa.

Last 12 months
2024-05
2025-02
2026-02
2026-02
Product timeline
1997
Founded as Aplitec / Net 1 Applied Technology Holdings Limited by Serge Belamant, developing the UEPS (Universal Electronic Payment System) proprietary payment technology.· pivot
2004
Listed on NASDAQ as Net 1 UEPS Technologies; began providing transaction processing to South African government social grants.· ipo
2017
Serge Belamant departed as CEO; company began strategic overhaul toward financial inclusion.· pivot
2022
Rebranded from Net 1 UEPS Technologies to Lesaka Technologies; refocused brand around three segments: Merchant, Consumer, Enterprise.· pivot
2022
Launched Consumer segment offering transactional accounts, insurance, lending and value-added services to underserved individuals.· banking
2024
Acquired Adumo (South African payment platform) for $85.9 million, adding merchant acquiring, card processing and GAAP hospitality POS.· acquisition
2025
Refinanced debt facilities, expanding banking relationships to include RMB and Investec; reported FY2025 revenue of $659.7M (ZAR 12.0B).· banking
2026
Announced strategic deal to acquire Bank Zero, deepening consumer banking capabilities.· banking
Acquisitions
Bank Zero2026
Announced acquisition of Bank Zero to deepen consumer banking infrastructure within Southern Africa.
Adumo2024
Acquired South African payment platform Adumo for $85.9M to add merchant acquiring, card processing, and GAAP hospitality POS capabilities.
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by Lesaka Technologies
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
4 layers disclosed in Lesaka Technologies’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Lesaka Merchant Acquiring (self-operated)Adumo (self-operated, acquired 2024)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Insurance
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
4 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.