Startups
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Africa’s biggest stock market, has actually partnered with the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), a federal government company that supports innovation commercialisation, to assist 10 South African tech SMEs end up being investment-ready and get in touch with brand-new markets and sources of capital.
The 16-week pilot provides the business access to capital-market proficiency, financier networks and industrial chances, as the JSE tests whether it can play a larger function previously in the start-up financing pipeline.
Released on September 30, the program will support SMEs in the health, farming and fintech sectors with financial investment preparedness, market gain access to and connections to prospective sources of capital.
The 10 business were chosen based upon their existing services or products, running maturity and business capacity, according to a declaration. Individuals will get assistance on financial investment preparedness and pitch advancement, while accessing to JSE networks through a market gain access to day and sector-specific engagements.
At the end of the program, the JSE and TIA objective to produce SMEs with funding-ready pitch packs, market linkages and a pipeline of prospective capital engagements. Some individuals might likewise end up being qualified for AltX screening, the JSE’s procedure for examining business for possible listing on its alternative market for smaller sized and growing services.
That does not imply the business will be noted or moneyed as an outcome of the program. Rather, the effort is created to move them closer to the point where they can engage financiers and possibly gain access to official capital markets.
For TIA, the collaboration addresses a relentless issue in South Africa’s development environment: getting innovations that have actually been established in your area into the marketplace.
“One of the crucial obstacles in the development worth chain is guaranteeing that brand-new innovations and developments are commercialised and gain access to the marketplaces,” stated Patrick Krappie, executive for development allowing at TIA, in a declaration.
He stated the collaboration in between TIA and JSE Rise, the regional bourse’s SME investment-readiness program, lines up with the company’s function as a “adapter and facilitator” for the commercialisation of in your area established developments. The firm desires the program to support companies attending to nationwide top priorities while assisting them move from establishing innovations to discovering markets, consumers and capital.
The JSE stated the effort broadens its SME Rise, the JSE’s SME development assistance program, into innovation sectors it thinks about crucial to financial development. SMEs represent 91% of official services, supply 60% of tasks and contribute as much as 34% of GDP, according to Deputy Finance Minister Ashor Sarupen
“We are happy to broaden our suite of SME Rise advancement options to support sectors that are crucial to driving financial development,” stated Vuyo Lee, primary marketing and business affairs officer at the JSE.
Through the collaboration, Lee stated the JSE is looking for to gear up South African innovation SMEs with the abilities and chances to contend regionally and internationally. The relocation likewise provides the exchange an earlier function in the lifecycle of high-growth services.
Generally, capital markets sit even more down the development journey, after a business has actually established an item, discovered clients, developed earnings and developed the governance and monetary systems financiers need. Optasia, a worldwide fintech platform that supplies mobile monetary services, noted on the JSE’s Main Board in November 2025 at an implied market capitalisation of R23.5 billion ($1.4 billion). Innovation group 4Sight likewise moved from AltX to the JSE Main Board in January 2025.
The JSE and TIA are now evaluating whether bringing a few of that capital-market preparation forward can enhance the opportunities of ingenious companies reaching that phase.
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