2. There is an African proverb that states:
“If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.”
This seems particularly appropriate when I think of our
close relationship with India. A relationship made possible
through our partnerships with innovative Indian technology
entrepreneurs who are inspired to build the best products
and services for Indian people in a Digital India created
by the progressive Indian government.
Ten years ago, internet adoption rates in India were 5%.
Fast-forward to today, and more than 560 million Indians
have smartphones, with data usage having grown 100x in
the past four to five years. Indian entrepreneurs are
harnessing the power of technology to build businesses
that address the unique needs of the Indian consumer,
helping to shape an exciting future.
We are honoured to be part of this journey. Over the
past five years, we have helped to build and support
Indian businesses by investing more than
US$4 billion in our Indian operations and
partner companies. This includes technology-
led companies in sectors as varied
as ecommerce, education, food delivery,
payments and fintech, travel and more.
Our commitment to India is as strong as
ever and we continue to invest in both our
existing companies and in new ventures.
With India forecast to reach 750-800
million internet users and 650 million
smartphone users in the next three to
four years, Indian consumers will continue
to be a significant global driver of online
innovation and growth. We are excited
to be able to contribute to this growth
as we continue to work together.
Bob van Dijk,
Group CEO, Prosus and Naspers
CONTENTS
SECTION 1 – Introduction to Prosus Page 04
SECTION 2 – Ecommerce Page 06
SECTION 3 – Travel Page 08
SECTION 4 – Classifieds Page 10
SECTION 5 – Payments and Fintech Page 14
SECTION 6 – Food Delivery Page 18
SECTION 7 – Ventures Page 20
3
3. 4 5
01
INTRODUCTION
TO PROSUS
Prosus – a Latin word meaning ‘forwards’ – seemed the perfect choice of name
for a company with a more than 100-year heritage that is always looking to the future.
On 11 September 2019, Naspers listed all its international internet
assets on the Euronext stock exchange in Amsterdam as Prosus.
The move is designed to set a strong foundation for the future,
by giving global technology investors direct access to a unique
portfolio of international consumer internet businesses. Prosus also
has a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange,
where Naspers retains its primary listing.
The creation of Prosus marked the latest step in Naspers’
long history. Founded in South Africa in 1915, Naspers has always
had an entrepreneurial spirit which has enabled it to be quick off
the mark to spot changes in technology and consumer behaviour.
From humble beginnings, today’s Prosus is a global consumer
internet group and one of the largest technology investors in
the world. We focus on long-term value creation by building
leading companies that improve people’s daily lives in high-
growth markets. We invest in and operate fast-growing consumer
internet businesses, particularly focused on online classifieds,
payments and fintech, and food delivery, in markets including
India, Russia and Brazil. Our ventures arm actively hunts for new
growth opportunities, and has made early stage investments
in sectors including education technology and health.
Prosus also has meaningful stakes in leading internet
companies Tencent, Mail.ru and Ctrip.
Our history in India dates back to 2005 when we first started
looking for investments and backed Ashish Kashyap to create
the social network Ibibo, which soon became Goibibo.
Since then, we have made significant investments in classifieds,
payments and fintech, ecommerce and food delivery. To date,
we have invested in excess of US$4bn in Indian technology
businesses, and our segments and the companies we have
invested in have provided economic opportunity to millions
of Indians. And we continue to partner with exceptional and
transformative entrepreneurs who are using technology to
improve the lives of millions of people in India.
“The listing of Prosus is an exciting step forwards for the
group, giving global technology investors direct access to
our unique and attractive portfolio of international consumer
internet businesses. We operate and invest globally in
markets with long-term growth potential, and our companies
and associates help improve the daily lives of around a fifth
of the world’s population.” Bob van Dijk, Group CEO Prosus
and Naspers.
“Prosus is committed to playing a major role
in India’s growth and digital evolution as the
country continues to embrace innovation and
technological change. Digital India, Startup India
and Invest India have laid the foundation for this
transformation, and we are grateful to partner with
the Indian government in making these a success.”
Sehraj Singh, Director of Public Policy India, Prosus
4. 76
02Launched in October 2007, Flipkart – today India’s largest etailer – was started from
a two-bedroom apartment in Bengaluru’s Koramangala area as an online bookstore.
Founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal,
both alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology
in Delhi and former Amazon employees,
the company’s humble beginnings
belied its destiny to change how
Indian consumers shop online.
Naspers became part of the
Flipkart story in August 2012,
with the first in a number of
investments, which cumulatively
amounted to US$616m.
In May 2014, Flipkart
acquired Myntra, an online
fashion retailer, for US$290m.
And in 2016, it bought the online
fashion retailer Jabong.com from
Rocket Internet for US$70m, as well
as the mobile payments start-up PhonePe.
Flipkart created one of the biggest sale events in
India in October 2014, in honour of the company’s
anniversary and the Diwali season. Dubbed Big
Billion Day, the event generated a surge of
traffic, selling US$100m-worth of goods in
10 hours. Big Billion Day has become the
de facto online shopping event for India,
with other ecommerce players following
Flipkart in making it an industry-wide event.
In August 2018, US-based retailer
Walmart completed a US$16bn
investment in Flipkart, buying our stake
in the business and becoming the
majority owner. Having helped to build
Flipkart into an Indian leader capable of
competing against international giants such
as Amazon, we were proud to say a fond farewell
and wish the team every success for the future.
India is one of the
most exciting markets in
the world. We are proud to back
Indian entrepreneurs whom we believe
have what it takes to build outstanding
and long-lasting businesses, and
Flipkart is a great example of this.”
Bob van Dijk, Group CEO,
Prosus and Naspers
THE STORY
OF FLIPKART
ECOMMERCE
5. 98
Ibibo Group’s roots date back to 2005,
when Naspers first started looking for
investment opportunities in India.
A small team spent months visiting businesses and exploring
possibilities for investment before concluding that nothing was
quite right. So the team switched tactics and wrote a business
plan to start a social network for India. The plan was presented
to the Naspers Board, who gave the go-ahead to start a
greenfield operation, and a site was found in Gurgaon,
just outside Delhi.
Among the first recruits was entrepreneurial founding CEO
Ashish Kashyap and the business was given the name Ibibo,
meaning ‘I build, I bond’.
The social network was officially launched on 1 January 2007
and gained good traction in users and traffic. Ashish Kashyap
and CFO Leroux Neethling wrote a new business plan to monetise
Ibibo’s large user base, leading to the 2009 launch of Goibibo,
an online travel business. The need for a payments gateway
to issue travel tickets gave rise to the formation of Ibibopay,
which later became PayU India.
In June 2013, Ibibo Group bought redBus, India’s most popular
online bus ticketing platform. This was followed in July 2016 with
the purchase of Peru-based bus tracking startup Busportal,
and in 2017, a Columbian offshoot of redBus was established.
It’s a great example of taking a proven, local market business
model and expanding it to other markets we know well,
where similar consumer needs exist.
THE MAKEMYTRIP STORY
Online travel company MakeMyTrip Limited (MMT) was founded
in 2000 by Deep Kalra to empower the traveller with instant
bookings and comprehensive choices and is a pioneer in
India’s online travel industry. MMT provides services including
flight tickets, domestic and international holiday packages,
hotel reservations, and rail and bus tickets.
In 2016, MMT and Ibibo Group came together in one
of India’s biggest online travel deals, realising a 40% stake
in MMT for Naspers. The merger created a leading business
in the fast-growing Indian online travel sector, with the
MakeMyTrip, Goibibo and redBus brands co-existing.
THE CTRIP STORY
In April 2019, Naspers announced it would exchange its
stake in MMT for a 5.6% stake in Ctrip.com International Limited,
a leading provider of online travel and related services
headquartered in China. The transaction closed in August 2019.
Ctrip is the leading online travel agency in the Chinese
online travel industry and is well-positioned to benefit from
the fast-growing domestic and outbound travel markets.
The deal creates a combined business with global scale,
with MMT continuing to be led by the local Indian
management team.
03TRAVEL
THE IBIBO
GROUP STORY
6. 04OLX Group is the online classifieds business of Prosus and is
one of the world’s fastest-growing marketplaces network,
serving more than 350 million people every month.
The group builds leading online platforms for
buying, selling and exchanging products and
services, operating more than 20 consumer
brands across the world, including OLX in India.
OLX began life in 2006 as an Argentinian
classifieds start-up with a unique strategy:
rather than simply start in its home country,
the team targeted markets with the greatest
potential to make an impact. OLX India was
one of its first sites and launched in 2009.
Naspers came on board in 2010, acquiring
a majority stake in OLX, which was increased
to 95% in 2014. In 2016, Naspers’ global
classifieds business, which included OLX
in more than 30 countries as well as Avito,
dubizzle, letgo and more, adopted the name
OLX Group in order to better represent its
growing portfolio.
During this time, the OLX brand went from
strength to strength in India. By October 2014,
OLX was the number one classifieds app in the
country, generating 1.5 billion monthly page views.
At the same time, OLX won growing industry
recognition. This included being named among
the Pitch Top 50 Brands in India (2014), voted
India’s fifth most-trusted online brand by Trust
Research Advisory’s Brand Trust Report (2014),
placed as the number two ecommerce website
in India by Surewaves Buzziest Brands (2014)
and rated India’s second most-searched
shopping website by Google Zeitgeist (2013).
In 2016, OLX India was recognised by the
prestigious Superbrands, which rates the
world’s most influential brands.
More recently, OLX Group has made
sizeable investments in India. In 2018, a US$89m
investment in used-car marketplace Frontier
Car Group led to a joint venture called OLX
Cash My Car (CMC), allowing customers to
sell their cars instantly. Since launch, the venture
has been growing at 15% every month and,
in February 2018, it announced its 50th store
in Bandra, Mumbai. There are now 69 CMC
centres in 16 Indian cities, with plans to
expand to 150 centres across 40 cities by 2021.
In January 2019, OLX Group acquired
Aasaanjobs, the leading blue and grey-collar
jobs recruitment marketplace for India.
This further strengthened OLX’s jobs category,
and addressed the needs of millions
of workers.
Later in 2019, OLX India was the third
market to migrate to OLX Group’s new
global technology platform, giving its Indian
users the best and most technologically
advanced features available in the company.
1110
CLASSIFIEDS
THE STORY OF
OLX IN INDIA
7. 12 13
I am proud of
OLX’s success
in India and,
most of all,
its positive impact
on communities.”
Alec Oxenford, co-founder of
OLX and US marketplace letgo
OLX is currently the number one buying and
selling mobile app in the Google Play store
in India, and is trending at 7 billion page
views per month. It has 4.5 million daily
active users and around 1 million users in its
cars category alone. Real estate is one of the
fastest-growing categories, with more than
1.2 million buyers every month and more
than 350,000 live property listings on any
given day. In 2018, 15.4 million smartphones
were listed on OLX.
The classifieds industry, by its nature,
encourages recycling and reuse, which is good
for the environment. A 2018 report by OLX India
and the Environmentalist Foundation of India
(EFI) estimated that the buying, selling and
exchange of pre-owned goods via OLX India
saved 8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions
in 2018. That’s equivalent to half the emissions
of the country’s aviation sector from 2013-14,
or to 1.3 million kilograms of plastic bags.
The CO2 emissions savings are also
increasing as OLX India grows – these added
up to 6.6 million tonnes in 2017 and 3.3 million
tonnes in 2016.
OLX is committed to enhancing trust and
safety on its platform, so users can make
safer and more convenient transactions.
Most recently, it launched a new partnership
with Cyber Peace Foundation, a civil society
organisation and think tank on cybersecurity.
Together they will educate users on online
threats such as financial frauds, phishing,
skimming, cyber defamation, cyber bullying,
stalking and child pornography.
“OLX is committed to bringing transformation
into people’s lives. Our mobile-first technology
has democratised online access, allowing
anyone with a smartphone in India to easily
buy, sell or exchange goods or services via our
platform and app. The popularity of our key
categories such as cars, real estate and jobs
is testament to the daily difference we make
to people’s lives. We are committed to our
mission to open this access up to a billion
people – in India and beyond.” Sushil Kumar,
General Manager for OLX India.
“I am proud of OLX’s success in India and,
most of all, its positive impact on communities.
We have introduced the concept of a second-
hand marketplace to millions of people,
helping them to reduce their environmental
footprint by making it simple to buy and sell
used goods. The continued support of the
Prosus team, who deeply understand the power
of high-growth markets, has been invaluable.”
Alec Oxenford, co-founder of OLX and US
marketplace letgo.
8. 1514
05
PAYMENTS
AND FINTECH
THE STORY OF
PAYU IN INDIA
PayU, the payments and fintech arm
of Prosus, is the leading online payment
service provider in 18 high-growth markets
across the world, dedicated to creating
a fast, simple and efficient payment
process for merchants and buyers.
Focused on empowering people through financial
services and creating a world without financial borders
where everyone can prosper, PayU is also one of the
biggest investors in the fintech space.
PayU’s story in India began at a time when the fintech
sector was nascent. In 2011, Naspers worked with
Nitin Gupta and Shailaz Nag in the Ibibo business to develop
and roll out the payment gateway, PayU. The following year,
PayU became independent of Ibibo Group.
PayU grew quickly, becoming the leading online payment
service provider in India, and in 2016, made its first strategic
acquisition in India, buying Citrus Pay for US$130m in an
all-cash deal – the country’s biggest fintech transaction.
Our first requirement when
looking for investment was to
be able to continue the fintech
business journey we embarked on.
Considering that PayU had both
growth plans for the fintech business
and resources to fund the business
plans, we decided to join PayU
and continue the journey.”
B Amrish Rau, Citrus Pay MD at the time
15
9. In 2017, PayU entered the alternative lending space in India
with LazyPay. Today, with a Non-banking Finance Company
(NBFC) licence, LazyPay has emerged as a fully-fledged
alternative lending platform dedicated to removing lending
risks to merchants, enabling millions of consumers to access
credit services that suit them.
In 2019, PayU acquired Wibmo in India, one of the industry leaders
in digital payment security and mobile payment technologies.
The acquisition combines PayU’s strong merchant network
and Wibmo’s leadership in digital transaction security solutions.
As a result, PayU can offer digital banking, bringing higher
conversion rates and increased sales to merchants, as well as
frictionless payments for consumers in India and other high-
growth markets.
Over the years, as well as innovation in payment solutions for
merchants and consumers, PayU has made numerous strategic
investments in India, including start-ups such as PaySense
and Zest Money, taking its total investment in India to more
than US$350m.
Today, PayU works with more than 350,000 merchants in India
and processes digital transactions worth more than US$15bn
annually – testament to the convenience and trust it’s brought
to digital payments. India is PayU’s biggest market globally.
In February 2019, PayU India appointed Anirban Mukherjee
as its new CEO to lead the next phase of growth, with an
ambition to create a full fintech regional ecosystem around
core payments and lending businesses.
PayU India is committed to giving back to society and has
partnered with organisations including Goonj, CRY, and Rotary
to run initiatives such as blanket donation, blood donation
and other fundraising drives. Furthermore, PayU supports the
empowerment of children from rural and slum areas.
We want to build an inclusive fintech ecosystem, interconnecting a
set of financial services. We plan to offer more services in payments,
get into omnichannel and build a vast credit business. We have an
existing base of multiple partnerships in place and an enormous
amount of data knowledge which can be leveraged to offer superior
user experiences. I believe there is a huge opportunity in the country
for a platform that helps reduce the friction seen in the financial
services by the Indian businesses and consumers today.”
Anirban Mukherjee, CEO PayU India
1716
10. 19
06
It all started back in 2014, when two BITS
Pilani graduates, Sriharsha Majety and
Nandan Reddy, decided they wanted to make
life easier by changing the way India eats –
with just a tap on a screen.
With their idea of ‘hyperlocal food delivery’, all they needed
was the tech to power it. They were introduced to Rahul Jaimini,
who brought this vision to life with the first website, and with this,
Swiggy was launched as a food ordering and delivery platform.
Today, Swiggy is India’s largest food delivery platform,
with more than 130,000 restaurant partners spread across 500 cities,
with more locations being added all the time. In just a few years,
Swiggy has changed the eating habits of people in India by
making online food ordering and delivery seamless and reliable.
In May 2017, Naspers led an US$80m series E investment
to help bolster Swiggy’s desire to create the best food ordering
and delivery business in India.
This was followed by further investment in February 2018,
with a US$100m Series F funding round led by Naspers,
designed to support further expansion and investment in technology
and new offerings to enhance the customer experience.
In June 2018, Naspers led a US$210m Series G funding
round to ramp up supply chain networks and double Swiggy’s
technology headcount.
Finally, in December 2018, Naspers led a US$1bn Series H
funding round – the single largest financing round in India.
Swiggy used the funds to bring more quality food brands
closer to consumers and address gaps in supply through
delivery-only kitchens. The team is also using the capital to hire
top-notch talent, especially for machine learning and engineering
roles, as well as to further strengthen its technology backbone
and focus on building a next-generation AI-driven platform for
hyperlocal discovery and on-demand delivery.
“Swiggy has been at the forefront of elevating the potential of
Indian food delivery with its industry-changing innovations and focus
on delivering the best consumer experience to millions of Indians.
“As we add more firepower to our vision of elevating quality
of life for urban consumers by offering unparalleled convenience,
we’re pleased that visionary global investors like Prosus share our
purpose and have made such a significant investment in our future.”
Sriharsha Majety, CEO Swiggy.
“Harsha and his team have shown their ability to execute really
well and the market potential is huge. A hundred years ago, everyone
made their own clothes; today few people do. I think we will see
similar seismic changes in the way people consume food.
We are proud to be working with Swiggy to help create the future
of food.” Bob van Dijk, CEO Prosus and Naspers.
Swiggy is persistent in its efforts to be more sustainable
and environmentally friendly for the future: ten years ago it
encouraged more mechanical cycles for its fleet, and this year it
piloted electric vehicles for its delivery partners across ten cities.
18
We are proud to be
working with Swiggy
to help create the
future of food.
Bob van Dijk,
CEO Prosus and Naspers
FOOD
DELIVERY
THE STORY
OF SWIGGY
11. Prosus Ventures is the early-stage venture
investing arm of Prosus, providing a
unique blend of venture capital (VC) and
operating company, combining the VC
model of investing with deep operational
experience in the Americas, Asia, Europe
and the Middle East. In India, our Ventures
investments and operations include:
BYJU’S
India’s largest education company.
The BYJU’S Learning App is the leader in
offering personalised learning programmes
for school students between 4th to 12th grades
in India. Delivering world-class learning
experiences, the Learning App merges videos,
interactivity and teachers to bring concepts
to life. It also adapts to the unique learning
style of every student, adjusting to the pace
and style of their learning. More than 30
million students have used the app and it has
amassed more than two million cumulative
annual paid subscriptions, with an average
engagement of 64 minutes per student
every day. Prosus Ventures led a US$540 million
round in BYJU’s in December 2018.
Meesho
India’s largest social commerce platform,
Meesho enables people to start an online
business with zero investment. To date, it has
enabled more than 1.6 million social sellers
in more than 700 Indian towns to sell effectively
on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram by
providing products, logistics and payment tools.
Meesho has cut across gender, education
levels, risk appetites and vocations to create
livelihoods without investment. These social
sellers are small retailers, women, students
and retired people. In fact, 70% are
homemakers who have found financial
freedom and a business identity without having
to step outside their homes. Ventures led a
US$125m round in Meesho in August 2019.
ElasticRun
Already available in more than 200 Indian
cities, ElasticRun’s services are based on
a network of small convenience stores.
The business means small store owners can
leverage quiet times of the day and earn extra
money by handling local last mile deliveries.
At the same time, ElasticRun is working with
marquee consumer goods companies to offer
a plug-n-play distribution network to extend
their existing distribution network to the
stores in its network. Ventures led a US$40m
round in ElasticRun in October 2019.
Quick Ride
This carpool network is aimed at providing
users with a quick, simple, secure and
cashless way to do their daily commute.
The company is working hand-in-hand
with its users to solve the problems of traffic
congestion, increased transit times and
air pollution. So far, more than 24 million rides
have been shared among 2.5 million users,
saving more than 48,000 tons of CO2
emissions from going into the atmosphere.
Ventures invested in Quick Ride in 2019.
As well as these examples, more than 25 million
people in India are also using Ventures
companies’ education technology. India is in
the top markets globally for Brainly, Udemy,
Codecademy and SoloLearn – key members
of our education portfolio.
“Since the inception of Ventures, we have
been identifying investment opportunities
in India that are not just interesting from
an economic standpoint but are creating
meaningful impact on the society.
“Meesho is bringing ecommerce to the
underserved in India, BYJU’S is democratising
access to quality education, ElasticRun is
bringing technology to the millions of Kirana
stores across the country and QuickRide is
helping reduce the number of cars on the
streets of India. We will continue to make our
contribution to the progress and growth of India.”
Larry Illg, CEO, Prosus Ventures and Food.
2120
07
VENTURES
THE STORY
OF PROSUS
VENTURES
IN INDIA
Meesho is bringing ecommerce to the underserved in India.”
Larry Illg, CEO, Prosus Ventures and Food
Part of the Ventures India team
From left to right: Ashutosh Sharma, Melanie Bosen and Saurav Jain.
12. 23
One memorable day in 2013, the Indira Gandhi
Stadium – India’s largest indoor arena with
capacity for 20,000 people – was filled with
an unusual crowd. Instead of the usual sports
fans or concert goers, the stadium was packed
with students participating in a maths lesson
from tutor-turned-CEO Byju Raveendran.
As his voice boomed across the stadium, screens beamed pictures
of a circle and a formula he’d written as part of the lesson.
But even this huge event wasn’t enough for Byju. He knew it
wouldn’t achieve his dream of scalable teaching, so he turned
to the digital world, determined to launch an online platform to
bring learning to the world.
Launched in 2015, BYJU’S is now among the world’s most
valuable EdTech companies, offering highly personalised and
effective learning programmes for students at many levels,
including training for exams such as JEE, CAT and IAS.
With 35 million registered students and 2.4 million paid
subscriptions, BYJU’S has become one of the most preferred
education platforms across the globe. BYJU’S niche is creating
personalised learning experiences for every type of learner.
The BYJU’S way of learning provides students with a learning
platform where they can learn, engage and be excited
about charting their own path to discover the world.
BYJU’S - The Learning App brings together the best teachers,
technology, content and media for creating a seamless,
world-class learning experience for each and every student.
Our journey with BYJU’S began in December 2018, when we
led a combination primary and secondary US$540m investment
round, which drove the BYJU’S team to further innovate, explore
and set new benchmarks for tech-enabled learning products.
The company has plans for international market expansion
and will make bold investments in technology that will help
to further personalise learning for students.
“We are happy to have prominent and long-term partners
like Prosus on board with us. This partnership will strengthen
our ability to deliver on our vision to build the world’s leading
education company. India has the largest population attending
primary school in the world and Indian households are willing
to invest a lot in their children’s education because a good
education is viewed as the best path to success. I believe the
importance of quality education among the entire population in
India fuelled our ability to create an engaging and high-impact
learning app.” Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO, BYJU’S –
The Learning App.
“With the largest school-age population in the world
and a growing middle class with the willingness to commit
significant resources towards quality education for their
children, BYJU’S is perfectly positioned to provide an effective
supplemental education solution for students across India.
We partnered with BYJU’S because we believe the company’s
success in India will translate across borders in any country
where students are looking for an innovative and engaging
form of education beyond the classroom.” Russell Dreisenstock,
Head of International Investments, Prosus Ventures.
22
A DEEP DIVE INTO BYJU’S STORY
BYJU’S is perfectly positioned to provide
an effective supplemental education
solution for students across India.”
Russell Dreisenstock, Head of International Investments
13. 24 25
Meesho is the leading social commerce online
marketplace in India, enabling independent
resellers to build small businesses by connecting
them with suppliers to curate a catalogue of goods
and services to sell.
The company also provides logistics and payment tools on
the platform. These ‘social sellers’ then sell within their social
networks on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.
Meesho has built a network of more than 2 million social sellers
across 700 towns in India, as well as creating a disruptive distribution
channel for 15,000 suppliers in traditional manufacturing hubs. With a
current focus largely on apparel, home, wellness and electronics items,
the company has a mission to create 20 million entrepreneurs by 2020.
Ventures’ journey started with Meesho in August 2019, leading a
US$125m round in the company. The capital provided will enable
Meesho to make strides towards its mission by allowing the team to
expand in areas outside India’s major metro regions, creating more
entrepreneurs, reaching remote customers not served by traditional
ecommerce marketplaces. The latest investment will also strengthen
Meesho’s aim of growing its community of female entrepreneurs,
who have dreamed of running their own businesses but lacked the
funds and expertise to do so.
“The exciting growth of ecommerce in India has hidden the
fact that more than 90% of Indians either can’t or won’t use it in its
current form. They want online shopping that enables them to buy
from small businesses they trust. Meesho provides a way for these
customers to get what they need – and we believe it’s the future of
online shopping for the next 500 million consumers. We are delighted
to welcome Prosus Ventures as our new investment partner. The company
has a great track record in the Indian market, helping to support and
build some of the leading Indian e-commerce businesses.” Vidit Aatrey,
Meesho Co-Founder and CEO.
“We were attracted to Meesho because the team has built a uniquely
Indian solution that uses the reach and scale the internet enables,
harnesses this and makes it available for small sellers to better serve
customers – no matter where they live – for the benefit of all.”
Ashutosh Sharma, Head of India Investments, Prosus Ventures.
A DEEP DIVE INTO
MEESHO’S STORY
14. 26
PROSUS GROUP
Sehraj Singh
Director of Public Policy, India
sehraj.singh@prosus.com
Sarah Ryan
Director of International
Media Relations
sarah.ryan@prosus.com
Eoin Ryan
Head of Investor Relations
eoin.ryan@prosus.com
PROSUS VENTURES
Jill Williams
Director of Business Operations
and Communications
jill@prosus.com
Ashutosh Sharma
Head of Investments, India
asharma@prosus.com
15. 28
PART OF THE NASPERS GROUP
www.prosus.com
October 2019
