Developed in partnership with Ventures Platform and other leading African GPs, the SVL Index addresses long-standing data gaps that have limited transparency and efficiency in African private markets. The Index is continuously updated and publicly accessible throughout the year, providing a single, reliable source of liquidity intelligence for investors on the continent. It serves as a concise and data-driven gauge of exit momentum and liquidity health in the African private capital ecosystem.

The SVL Index is built on ten years of data on African exits and liquidity events, including confidential submissions from leading GPs with Stears as the sole data custodian. Data partnerships with African GPs enable it to track both exit momentum and exit quality, offering quarterly and annual indicators as well as sectoral and regional breakdowns for deeper analysis.

Insights from the SVL Index reveal strengthening liquidity conditions across Africa’s private capital ecosystem in 2025. The Index rose from 113.27 at the end of 2024 to 130.28 in Q3 2025, reflecting increased exit activity and growing buyer interest. The Index also shows clear recovery in African venture liquidity following the global tech downturn in 2022 and 2023. During that period, the venture liquidity index fell to 96.42 due to rising interest rates, valuation declines, and a sharp pullback in technology markets. In 2025, it has rebounded to 116.34, underscoring renewed liquidity momentum.

For GPs, it highlights when and where liquidity is building, enabling better exit timing and more strategic portfolio planning. For LPs, it provides a transparent benchmark of ecosystem maturity and liquidity depth, informing asset allocation decisions across fund managers.

Preston Ideh, CEO at Stears, commented on the SVL Index, saying “Stears and the leading African GPs share a commitment to trusted, standardised infrastructure that makes credible data available to LPs and GPs investing in Africa. Launching the SVL Index is an important milestone because it creates a single way to track African GP performance, access previously undisclosed data, and tell a more accurate story of how African VC has grown over the years.”

Dotun Olowoporoku, Managing Partner at Ventures Platform, commented on the Index saying “This Index is more than a diagnostic tool; it is part of our long-term commitment to contributing to the information infrastructure Africa’s venture ecosystem needs to mature. By bringing ten years of exit data into a single, transparent benchmark, the SVL Index enables GPs and LPs to plan with confidence, model liquidity more accurately, and ultimately build repeatable pathways to strong returns. We are proud to partner with Stears on an innovation that we expect will redefine how capital allocators understand and engage Africa’s private markets.”

The SVL Index will also serve as the foundation for the forthcoming annual 2025 VC Liquidity Report. By providing trusted data, both the Index and the Report will equip investors and fund managers with the tools needed to navigate current market constraints and build repeatable, scalable exit models. Other Partners in the 2025 VC Liquidity Report include Nomad Capital Advisory and Kara Ventures.