For years, listing on Nasdaq or the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has been the ultimate ambition for many of Africa’s most successful startups. But at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on Wednesday, a different vision took centre stage: Africa’s future tech champions should be built and eventually listed on African exchanges.
Africa has produced a growing number of billion-dollar startups, but its capital markets have yet to keep pace. That gap dominated discussions at the JSE on Wednesday during the African activation of the AT50 Index, a new benchmark designed to make Africa’s largest private technology companies more visible to institutional investors before they pursue listings or other liquidity events.
The rules-based AT50 Index, launched at the London Stock Exchange in January, is developed by Indexa Exchange Group to benchmark Africa’s largest private technology companies. The index is intended to help institutional investors, exchanges, and advisers compare fast-growing companies as they mature toward listings, acquisitions, and other liquidity events.
Wednesday’s event marked the benchmark’s first activation at an African stock exchange, bringing together exchange executives, investors, policymakers and technology founders to discuss how Africa’s capital markets can better support companies as they mature beyond venture funding. After Johannesburg, the AT50’s next African activation will take place at the Egyptian Exchange in Cairo on September 23 as organisers continue engaging exchanges and investors across the continent.
