Morningstar has launched an index tracking pure-play artificial intelligence (AI) companies as they transition from private to public listing.
The Morningstar PitchBook GenAI 20 Index uses global private markets data to identify businesses that are advancing core technologies through AI – machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and agentic AI. It said many generative AI companies remain private and unrepresented in traditional market benchmarks. This index will therefore addresses this gap and provides exposure to pure-play generative AI innovators.
Companies are classified as ‘GenAI’ and eligible for the index by PitchBook if their core product and revenue driver is rooted in the development, training, deployment or orchestration of generative models rather than in hardware, services, or domain-specific end applications, the firm said.
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Dimitri Zabelin, senior investment research analyst, AI & cybersecurity at Morningstar’s PitchBook, said: “GenAI represents a fundamental shift in how software is built, deployed, and scaled across the global economy. Unlike prior waves of innovation, its horizontal nature allows core generative models to influence nearly every sector simultaneously, reshaping workflows, products, and decision-making at unprecedented speed.
“As this transformation accelerates, the companies advancing foundational GenAI capabilities are increasingly central to how value is created in the technology ecosystem. Understanding how this layer evolves, consolidates, and scales is essential to interpreting the next phase of technological change.”
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