Fabricio Bloisi, chief executive officer of Prosus NV, during an interview in London, UK, on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. Bloisi took the reins of South Africa's Naspers Ltd. and its investment arm Prosus NV in July with a plan to double the value of the 110-year-old group within the next four years.
India will produce a $100 billion tech company in the coming years, the CEO of Prosus told CNBC on Monday, as the firm bets on the country for its next big investment win.
Prosus , which is majority owned by South African company Naspers, is one of the biggest tech investors in the world.
The company is hoping it can replicate the success it saw with its return on Chinese social media and gaming giant Tencent . Prosus' parent company Naspers bought a near 50% holding in Tencent back in 2001 for around $32 million. That early stake in Tencent is now worth billions of dollars, with the WeChat operator valued at nearly $600 billion as of Monday.
"The companies there [in India] are still small, our investment there is around $10 billion, as it was in China 14 years ago," Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi told CNBC.
"What's the learning? We believe it's going to be, not a $20 billion company, but a $100 billion company, maybe [a] half a trillion dollar company in India. So we are not investing there to sell next month."
Prosus has invested in some of the buzziest tech firms in India, including payments service PayU and e-commerce company Meesho. Prosus also owns just under 25% of food delivery firm Swiggy , which went public in November.
Bloisi said listing Prosus' India investments are a key part of its strategy. He added that he expects five Indian companies that Prosus is invested in to carry out an initial public offering this year.
"I think this is very good for India, because we have the local markets here investing in the local companies. This was critical for U.S., this was critical for China. I think if India can greater strong local markets investing in tech, it's going to be amazing for India," Bloisi said.
Prosus has also been targeting big investments in Europe and the Latin America.
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