Prosus N.V. is a global investment group that invests and operates across sectors and markets with long-term growth potential. It is among the largest technology investors in the world. Prosus has invested across multiple verticals, including social / gaming, classifieds, payments,

financial technology Financial technology (abbreviated as fintech) refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, ...

educational technology Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning and teaching. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech" ...

, food delivery, real estate listings, and ecommerce. Products and services of its businesses and investments are used by more than 1.5 billion people in 89 markets. Prosus is majority-owned by South African multinational

mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

company

Naspers Naspers Limited (until 1998 Die Nasionale Pers) is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town. The company has interests in online retail, publishing, real estate, and ventu ...

. In September 2019, Prosus's ordinary shares were listed on

Euronext Amsterdam Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (), it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The re ...

and, as a secondary inward-listing, on the

Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...

. Subsequent to its , Prosus became the largest consumer Internet company in Europe by asset value. Shares in the company were reported to have "soared on debut," although the company was trading at a significant discount to the value of its portfolio.

Business

The group's expansion into Internet platforms began in the 1990s, spanning various tech investments, including: * Social –

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...

(26.16%) * Classifieds – OLX (100%), Property24, EPMG * Fintech – PayU (98.8%),

Remitly Remitly is an American online remittance service based in Seattle, United States that offers international money transfers to over 170 countries. It was founded in 2011 by Matthew Oppenheimer, Josh Hug, and Shivaas Gulati and became publicly trad ...

(19.4%), Red Dot Payment, BUX * Food –

iFood Heavy isotope diet is the consumption of nutrients in which some atoms are replaced with their heavier non-radioactive isotopes, such as deuterium (2H) or heavy carbon (13C). Biomolecules that incorporate heavier isotopes give rise to more stabl ...

(100%),

Delivery Hero Delivery Hero SE is a German multinational online food ordering and food delivery company based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 2011, the company operates in 70+ countries internationally in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin and South America, and th ...

(22.3%),

Swiggy Swiggy Limited is an Indian online food ordering and delivery company. Founded in 2014, Swiggy is headquartered in Bengaluru and operates in more than 580 Indian cities, Besides food delivery, the platform also provides quick commerce servic ...

(38.8%), Oda, Flink,

Wolt WOLT (103.3 FM "Indy 103.3") is a commercial radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana. It broadcasts a classic alternative radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. WOLT carries the nationally syndicated "Woody Show" in morning dri ...

, Foodics, Sharebite, Facily * EdTech –

Stack Overflow In software, a stack overflow occurs if the call stack pointer exceeds the stack bound. The call stack may consist of a limited amount of address space, often determined at the start of the program. The size of the call stack depends on many fa ...

, Brainly,

Udemy Udemy ( ) is an American global massive open online course provider. It was founded in May 2010 by Eren Bali, Gagan Biyani, and Oktay Caglar. It is based in San Francisco, California, United States. The platform hosts online courses, mostly ...

Skillsoft Skillsoft is an American educational technology company that produces learning management system software and content. History Skillsoft was founded by Charles Moran in 1998. Moran served as chief executive officer and President from 1998 to 20 ...

, GoStudent, GoodHabitz, Eruditus, BYJU' Platzi, eduMe, and SoloLearn * Ecommerce – eMAG (80.1%),

Meesho Meesho Private Limited doing business as Meesho (short for ''Meri Shop'', trans. My Shop) is an Indian e-commerce company headquartered in Bengaluru. Founded by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in December 2015. It is an online marketplace that ...

, Mensa Brands,

PharmEasy PharmEasy is an Indian e-pharmacy company that sells medicines, diagnostics and telehealth online. History The company was founded in 2015 by Dharmil Sheth and Dhaval Shah in Mumbai with the initial seed funding provided by their parents. ...

, Ula, ElasticRun, merXu, The Good Glamm Group * Travel –

Ctrip Trip.com Group Limited is a multinational travel agency headquartered in Shanghai, China. It is the largest online travel service provider in the world. Founded in 1999, the company owns and operates several travel fare aggregators and travel ...

(6%) * Mobility / Logistics –

Bykea Bykea, stylized as BYKEA, is a Pakistani ride-hailing service and parcel delivery company based in Karachi. It was founded by Muneeb Maayr in 2016. History Bykea was started in December 2016 in Karachi, Pakistan. The company currently operates ...

, 99minutos, QuickRide, Dott, Shipper * AgriTech: DeHaat, VeGrow, CaptainFresh * Other: Airmeet,

Wayflyer Wayflyer is an Irish fintech company that provides purpose-built financing solutions to consumer brands worldwide. Founded in 2019 in Dublin, Ireland, the company's proprietary technology assesses a brand's growth potential to deliver tailored fin ...

Prosus is best known for its investments in

, dating back to a 45% share in 2001. In 2019 the company attempted to acquire

Just Eat Just Eat is an online food order and delivery platform. It was founded in 2001 in Kolding, Denmark, as a food delivery company, and later headquartered in London, United Kingdom, from 2006 (as Just Eat plc) until it was purchased by Netherla ...

, but lost the bidding war to Takeaway.com. On February 24th 2025 the company announced it reached an agreement to acquire Just Eat Takeaway.com for €4.1 bln. in cash. In March 2022, Prosus announced it was writing off its 25.9% stake (worth approximately US$700m) in social media company VK after VK's CEO Vladimir Kirienko was put on a U.S. sanctions list. In December 2024, Prosus announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire Despegar, a Latin American travel agency, for USD 1.7 billion.

Controversy

Following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

in February 2022, many international companies, particularly Western, pulled out of Russia. Unlike most of its Western competitors, Prosus was slow to announce any

disinvestment Disinvestment refers to the use of a concerted economic boycott to pressure a government, industry, or company towards a change in policy, or in the case of governments, even regime change. The term was first used in the 1980s, most commonly in ...

s or scaling back of its operations in Russia. It was criticised in particular with regard to its

Avito Avito is a Russian classified advertising, classified advertisements website with sections devoted to general goods for sale, jobs, real estate, personal advertisement, personals, cars for sale, and services. Avito is the most popular classifieds ...

platform (a subsidiary of OLX), which, among other activities, provided

classified advertising Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements use ...

services that were used by the Russian army for recruiting purposes. In October 2022, Prosus agreed to sell Avito service to Kismet Capital Group for $2.4 bln.

Acquisitions

References

External links

{{Euro Stoxx 50 Companies Companies based in Amsterdam Companies listed on Euronext Amsterdam Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Financial technology companies 2019 initial public offerings Companies in the Euro Stoxx 50 Companies in the FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index Companies in the AEX index Tencent