The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) have selected 10 South African businesses for a 16-week programme aimed at improving their readiness for investment, market expansion and long-term growth.

The participating businesses operate in health, agriculture and fintech. The programme will provide support with pitch development, access to markets and connections to potential sources of capital.

Building companies beyond the product stage

The initiative is intended to address a common challenge for technology businesses: moving from a functioning product and early-stage funding to a company with the governance, financial controls, predictable unit economics and commercial structures expected by institutional investors.

Those requirements can include credible management teams, reliable financial reporting and access to markets large enough to support expansion. The programme is therefore positioned as an earlier intervention than the JSE’s traditional role, which generally begins after a company has developed a product, attracted customers, generated revenue and established governance structures.

Patrick Krappie, the TIA’s executive for innovation enabling, said one of the central challenges in the innovation value chain was ensuring that new technologies and innovations were commercialised and reached markets. He described the agency as a connector for commercialising local innovation.

Vuyo Lee, the JSE’s chief marketing and corporate affairs officer, said the programme is intended to help technology small and medium-sized businesses compete regionally and globally.

Possible routes to capital and liquidity

The programme is not limited to preparing companies for stock-market listings. Some participating businesses could eventually be considered for AltX screening or private placements, although no company has been confirmed as eligible for either route.

The initiative comes as South Africa’s technology sector has produced businesses that reached liquidity through acquisitions by larger companies. Nedbank acquired iKhokha in 2025 for a reported R1.65 billion ($99.5 million), while Lesaka completed its R1.67 billion ($100.7 million) acquisition of Adumo in 2024.

Other examples include Xero’s reported $70 million acquisition of Syft Analytics in 2025 and nCino’s acquisition of DocFox in 2024 for about $75 million. These transactions illustrate how technology businesses can exit through larger corporate buyers rather than local public markets.

There have also been public-market developments. Optasia listed on the JSE Main Board in 2025 at an implied market capitalisation of R23.5 billion ($1.4 billion), while 4Sight moved from AltX to the Main Board during the same year. In Egypt, ValU floated shares on the Egyptian Exchange, providing another regional example of a technology company pursuing liquidity through a public listing.

The JSE and TIA have not identified the 10 selected businesses. It is also not yet known whether any of them will ultimately secure institutional investment, complete a private placement or pursue a listing. The broader test for the programme will be whether it can create a repeatable pathway from early-stage innovation to commercially scalable businesses with credible local and regional exit options.