Prosus India Portfolio: PharmEasy Yield Low Returns, More IPOs Expected

Global investor Prosus saw PharmEasy yield a negative internal rate of return, PayU India business revenue growth and a $500-million payout from the Swiggy initial public offering in the current financial year. It has also called out PayU, Meesho and Bluestone as potential IPO bets in the next 18 months.

The recent financial results by the investment arm of Naspers showed that from its India portfolio, PharmEasy yielded IRR of -38%, Eruditus delivered a 14% return and PayUIndia delivered a 21% return. Meesho delivered a 20% return and ElasticRun delivered a 23% return.

The firm said the revenue of PayU India business grew 12% to $237 million, with a strong growth of 25% in the total payments in value. The EBIT margin at -5% is 2 percentage points lower than the last period but showing improvement in recent months as it drives towards profitability.

“India payments is at an inflection point post the regulatory challenges that impacted growth," the company report reads. "Following the lifting of the embargo in April 2024, the business has gained momentum with over 4,000 merchants onboarded."

Swiggy IPO

Prosus revealed that it sold 10,90,96,540 shares, reducing its stake in Swiggy to below 25% on a fully diluted basis, and generated gross proceeds of approximately $500 million during the IPO.

"The IRR of our stake in Swiggy, based on the IPO price and the net proceeds of the stake we sold, was 18%. This milestone marks a significant achievement for Swiggy and reflects our continued confidence in its potential for future growth,” it said.

From January to June, Swiggy's business-to-consumer gross order value grew 24% and its adjusted Ebitda losses reduced to $85 million, compared to last year's $145 million, according to Prosus.

More IPOs To follow

Prosus has also called out PayU, Meesho and Bluestone as potential IPO candidates in the next 18 months. This is while Eruditus, Captainfresh, Mintifi, Vastu and Mensa are being seen as potential candidates in the future.

New Investments

In October 2024, the investment group acquired a 10.65% effective interest in Mintifi Pvt. for approximately $79.9 million. Mintifi is a supply-chain finance fintech company in India.

It has also acquired an 8.4% effective (7.8% fully diluted) interest for approximately $100 million in Vastu Housing Financing Corporate Ltd.