How Prosus Plans To Repeat South African Billionaire Bekker's Billion-dollar Tencent Bet

The company has invested heavily in platforms like PayU and Meesho, aiming to create Indias next 100 billion tech giant.

CEO Fabricio Bloisi says India today mirrors early-2000s China, citing digital infrastructure, youth-led innovation, and government support.

Prosus expects five Indian IPOs in 2025, hoping to strengthen local capital markets and build durable, listed tech companies.

When South African billionaire Koos Bekker led Naspers to buy nearly half of a then-little-known Chinese tech firm called Tencent for just 34 million in 2001, few imagined what that deal would become. Two decades later, even with the stake diluted to 24.3 percent, its still worth over 140 billion. That single move reshaped Naspers from a Johannesburg newspaper publisher into a global tech investor.

Its often called one of the smartest bets in corporate history. And now, the company Bekker transformed is aiming to do something just as ambitious. At the center of that effort is Fabricio Bloisi, a Brazilian entrepreneur who now leads both Naspers and its international investment arm, Prosus.

His eyes are set on India. We believe its going to be, not a 20 billion company, but a 100 billion company, maybe half a trillion-dollar company in India, Bloisi said in a recent CNBC interview . So we are not investing there to sell next month.

That vision speaks volumes. Prosus is not just looking for fast returns, it is making long-term commitments in a market that feels, to Bloisi, a lot like China did when Naspers first found Tencent. So far, Prosus has poured about 10 billion into Indian startups like PayU and Meesho, betting that the countrys digital economy is just getting started.

But its not just about rising smartphone use or a growing middle class. Its about timing. Like China in the early 2000s, India is seeing a wave of young entrepreneurs, expanding digital infrastructure, and growing government support for local tech. That combination, Bloisi believes, creates the right conditions to build something lasting.