Meesho’s strong market debut boosts Prosus’ India bets

The Netherlands-headquartered Prosus’ India thesis is paying off in quick succession, and the global consumer-internet investor is now gearing up to deploy more patient capital across consumer internet, artificial intelligence (AI) and fintech, senior executives told Mint.

- Sneha Shah

The clearest proof point is Meesho—where Prosus is among the largest institutional backers—as the company’s strong market debut at an over 53% premium has sharply boosted the value of its investment and strengthened its confidence in India as a long-term growth market.

On Wednesday, Meesho’s share price ended the listing day at 2170.45 on the National Stock Exchange, a 53.6% premium to the initial public offering (IPO) price of 2111.

The company shed over 1% of its gains on Thursday, with its market capitalization at 275,942 crore, or $8 billion. With an 11.2% stake in the mass market online retailer, Prosus has struck gold. The firm that enjoys the reputation of having evergreen capital is in no hurry to sell.