Dutch investment group Prosus has revealed a strong pipeline of potential IPO candidates from its Indian portfolio, including major names such as Meesho, BlueStone, PayU, and Urban Company. These companies are expected to go public over the next 18 months, signaling Prosus’s confidence in India’s growing startup ecosystem.
In a call following the company’s half-yearly results declaration, Prosus CEO, Fabricio Bloisi, expressed strong optimism about India’s potential as a critical market for its investments. “We are very excited about India. We started investing in India seven years ago, much before everyone was talking about the country’s potential. We made a good call to make India our priority and Swiggy IPO is just a first big result, we have many more ahead,” Bloisi said.
Prosus has invested over $8 billion in India, underscoring the significance of the market for the company’s growth strategy. The company also highlighted that other portfolio companies such as Captain Fresh, Mintifi, Vastu Housing Finance, Mensa Brands, and Eruditus are also in line for potential public listings. These efforts showcase Prosus’s commitment to tapping into India’s evolving startup ecosystem, which continues to attract global attention.
Further cementing its bullish stance on India, Bloisi shared, “We have around 30 investments in India and have many more IPOs ahead over the next 1.5 years. We started at the right time. Our ecosystem in India is unique. Our companies here help each other grow faster, and we see immense potential to crystallise value over the coming years.”
Prosus’s India portfolio has demonstrated a mixed performance in the first half of the fiscal year (H1FY25). Among the successes, Swiggy and PayU India recorded an internal rate of return (IRR) of 21% each, while Meesho posted an IRR of 20%. Edtech startup Eruditus saw a return of 14%, marking it as the only positive performer in Prosus’s education technology portfolio during the period.
However, not all investments have performed well. Online pharmacy startup PharmEasy delivered a significant challenge for Prosus, posting an IRR of -38% in H1FY25, though its performance improved compared to the same period in FY24, when it recorded an IRR of -44%. PharmEasy has struggled to recover market share amid intense competition from players such as Tata 1mg, Reliance-owned Netmeds, and Apollo 24×7. Despite efforts to cut losses—partially through lower goodwill impairment charges and a decline in overall expenses—the company saw a 15% year-on-year revenue decline, totaling Rs 5,644 crore.