NASDAQ-listed South African fintech Lesaka Technologies will finalise its $85 million acquisition of fintech startup Adumo in October 2024 after receiving approval from shareholders and South Africa’s Competition Commission. 

First announced in May, the deal will expand Lesaka’s consumer and SME merchant financing services into Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia. 

“This acquisition allows us to offer payment processing, integrated payments and reconciliation solutions to SME merchants in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana,” the company said on an earnings call on Thursday. “It also allows us to enter a new market vertical, being the hospitality sector.”

Through the acquisition, Lesaka claims it will reach 1.7 million customers and 119,000 merchants in the Southern African region. The company currently has 1.5 million customers.

Lesaka, with a market capitalisation of $315 million, owns payment provider EasyPay, and Kazang, a card-acquiring POS device company. In February, the company acquired point-of-sale provider Touchsides for an undisclosed amount.

Adumo’s acquisition will enable Lesaka to grab a greater market share in the southern African region after expanding into new markets. Competitors like YOCO are only based in South Africa. Lesaka will make more acquisitions in the coming months.

“Our run rate of acquisitions is not expected to decelerate and we anticipate we will be making add-on acquisitions fairly frequently,” Group chair Ali Mazanderani said on the earnings call. “We have several potential targets which fit clearly into our stated strategy.”