The Johannesburg Stock Exchange has a new addition. The Africa Tech 50 Index was launched, on Africa’s largest bourse today – about six month after its inclusion, on the London Stock Exchange. Joining CNBC Africa to discuss what this means for the Index, the companies in it, and the African markets; is Gbite Oduneye, Chair of Indexa Exchange Group.
Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:37:28 GMT
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Key Points:
- The Africa Tech 50 Index launched on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange after its debut on the London Stock Exchange in January.
- Unlike traditional stock market indexes, the benchmark tracks 50 scaled private technology companies across Africa rather than listed firms.
- Indexa says the goal is to improve visibility, standardization and access to capital for private tech businesses moving beyond venture capital.
- The index currently includes 11 South African companies and references firms such as Yoco, TymeBank and Flutterwave.
- Companies exit the index if they list publicly or are acquired, with replacements drawn from a broader Africa Tech 1000 universe.
- Indexa plans further African rollouts in Cairo, Nairobi and Nigeria, followed by international visibility efforts in Paris and Nasdaq.
- Odune said discussions are underway with a major African bank on a proposed $500 million ETF focused on private scaled tech companies.
- The benchmark is intended to encourage stronger disclosure and governance practices among private firms seeking institutional capital.
Topics
Johannesburg Stock ExchangeJSEAfrica Tech 50 IndexAfrican techprivate marketsventure capitalIPO pipelineIndexa Exchange Groupinstitutional investorscapital marketsSouth AfricaLondon Stock Exchange
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange has launched the Africa Tech 50 Index, marking a notable step in efforts to bring greater visibility, standardization and investor access to some of the continent’s largest private technology companies.
The index, which was first introduced in London in January, made its African debut in Johannesburg this week and is designed to track 50 of Africa’s most scaled private tech businesses rather than traditionally listed public companies. That distinction makes it unlike familiar benchmarks such as the JSE Top 40, which are composed of publicly traded firms and whose pricing is driven by real-time market activity.
Instead, the Africa Tech 50 aims to create a benchmark for private-market technology businesses that have outgrown the early venture capital phase and are moving toward their next stage of development, whether through an initial public offering, acquisition or longer-term private capital raising.
Speaking on CNBC Africa, Indexa Exchange Group Chair Kebire Odune said the purpose of the index is to showcase Africa’s “most scaled, IPO-prepared or market-ready” private technology companies to global investors and the investment banking community.
Odune said the launch on the JSE was attended by a broad range of capital markets participants and described it as the first African activation of a broader continental rollout. After Johannesburg, the group plans to launch the product on the Egyptian Exchange, followed by Nairobi and Nigeria, while also pursuing international visibility through platforms including Euronext Paris and eventually Nasdaq.
The push comes at a time when many African tech companies are staying private for longer, even as they reach valuations and operational scale that previously might have pushed them faster toward public listings. According to Odune, venture capital represents only a small share of global capital, leaving a much larger pool of institutional money potentially available if companies can meet the disclosure, governance and reporting standards that later-stage investors demand.
That, in effect, is where the index is meant to play a role.
He also said the methodology draws on international standards and evaluates companies across six pillars intended to capture the drivers that would typically influence a public market valuation. While private firms do not disclose information at the same frequency or depth as listed peers, the index is designed to reward greater transparency by linking disclosure to access to deeper pools of institutional capital.
“Capital goes where it recognizes,” Odune said, arguing that visibility and a common benchmark could help unlock new forms of funding for the continent’s fastest-growing technology firms.
The index currently includes 11 South African companies, with names such as Yoco and TymeBank referenced during the discussion. Odune also pointed to pan-African names including Flutterwave as examples of the kind of scaled businesses that are drawing investor attention.
Importantly, the benchmark is not static. Companies will leave the Africa Tech 50 if they are listed on a stock exchange or acquired, reflecting the fact that the product is fundamentally a private-market index. Those companies can be replaced from a wider Africa Tech 1000 universe, creating a promotion-and-relegation structure intended to keep the benchmark focused on the most relevant firms. Odune said the first rebalance is due this quarter, with two companies expected to drop off and two new entrants to be added.
For stock exchanges, the product could also serve as a future listings pipeline. Odune said bourses partnering with the initiative are naturally interested in seeing companies on the index eventually come to market locally. For investment banks and brokers, meanwhile, it provides a curated pool of companies that may become candidates for transactions, advisory mandates or structured investment products.
That process may already be starting. Odune said that within weeks of the London launch, Indexa began discussions with a major African bank that is working on a $500 million exchange-traded fund aimed at private scaled technology companies. While he did not attribute the idea solely to the index, he said the existence of an independent and verifiable benchmark helps financial institutions create investable products around private assets.
That is a potentially significant development for African capital markets, where one long-standing challenge has been the gap between startup financing and mainstream institutional ownership. Many of the continent’s tech champions have raised seed and growth capital by learning the “language” of early-stage funding, Odune said, but the next step requires stronger governance, repeatable revenues and a greater willingness to disclose both good and bad news.
The Africa Tech 50 does not guarantee listings, and Odune was careful to stress that not every company in the index is equally ready to go public. Some may pursue acquisitions, some may remain private longer, and others may still be earlier in their market-readiness journey than peers. But he said the broader aim is behavioral as much as financial: to encourage better governance and reporting practices that make companies more investable over time.
That could be especially relevant in Africa, where founders often weigh whether to list locally, in London or in New York, and where not every business will be suited to a marquee offshore debut. By creating a continental benchmark and taking it to exchanges across Africa, Indexa is betting that a stronger domestic and regional capital-markets ecosystem can help bridge that gap.
For now, investor appetite appears encouraging. Odune said institutional demand for access to high-growth private companies is rising as firms stay private longer and public market investors seek earlier exposure to value creation.
If that thesis holds, the JSE launch of the Africa Tech 50 may prove to be more than a ceremonial market event. It could become an early test of whether Africa’s private tech champions can be turned into a more visible, measurable and ultimately investable asset class for global capital.
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