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South African fintech group Zyra has raised $2.8 million from Laudian Investment Holdings, its first institutional investment. Laudian has also agreed to give Zyra access to a further $6.1 million.
Zyra is already earning revenue and is profitable, according to the company. It plans to use the funding to grow its current business and to buy other financial services companies.
“We are very excited to have Laudian on board as a strategic and financial partner. Their backing will help us accelerate our expansion agenda and pursue the opportunities we see across the financial services sector. We believe there is significant potential to improve the way underserved markets access financial services, and that is central to what we are building. We expect to establish a presence in three new markets by the end of 2026 and look forward to working with Laudian as we pursue this next phase of growth,” said PJ Slabbert, co-founder and CEO of Zyra.
Zyra builds, buys and grows financial services businesses that run on its own AI-based technology. Its first business, ZyraLend, launched in July 2026. It is a personal lending service that works entirely through WhatsApp.
ZyraLend received 26,596 loan applications in its first month, mostly through word of mouth. Applications came from all nine provinces and from customers aged 18 to 54. It offers short-term loans of up to R8,000, repayable over one to six months, and existing customers can now apply for top-ups.
Most applicants said they needed the money for personal or emergency costs. Almost half of customer interactions (48.8%) took place outside normal business hours. ZyraLend assesses applications around the clock without branches or call centres.
“What attracted us is the combination of a scalable operating model, an entrepreneurial management team, and the opportunity to make financial services more accessible. ZyraLend’s initial market response is encouraging, and we see potential to build on that foundation through responsible lending, continued technology development, and carefully selected growth opportunities,” said Chris van Zyl, CEO of the Laudian Group.
Laudian is a South African private investment company that backs privately owned businesses with equity and debt. Its portfolio covers eleven areas, including private debt, technology, mining, agriculture and property. Chris van Zyl, CEO of the Laudian Group, said Zyra fits its interests in private debt and technology.
Zyra will use the money to keep developing its technology, grow its current operations and move into related financial services markets. It also plans to make acquisitions and to raise more capital to pay for them.
