Tag: Prosus

Prosus, Naspers appoint Fabricio Bloisi as CEO, replacing Ervin Tu

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Prosus NV and Naspers Ltd. appointed Fabricio Bloisi as its chief executive officer, replacing interim CEO Ervin Tu.

Bloisi, who was the CEO at iFood, will start on July 1, Amsterdam-based technology-investment firm Prosus said in an emailed statement. Tu will take on the role of president and chief investment officer.

Tu has headed the companies since Bob van Dijk stepped down as the head of Prosus and Naspers in September.

The group’s strategic goals remain unchanged, and it is on target to deliver a consolidated e-commerce trading profit during the second half of the fiscal year, it said.

Prosus and its Cape Town-based parent Naspers made a blockbuster early-stage investment in Tencent Holdings Ltd. in 2001 for $34 million. Since then, the Chinese company’s growth has exploded. That led the group to sell down some of its stake in Tencent and buy back its own shares, in order to close a gap between the sum of its parts, and the value of its stake.

Also Read: Former Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani pays tribute to visionary mentor and friend Vineet Nayyar

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

PayU’s India biz clocks $211 million in revenues; Prosus attributes growth to Lazycard shutdown

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Fintech major PayU’s India business recorded total revenues of $211 million in H1FY24, as per its investor Prosus’ financial filing. Currently, India contributes 48% of PayU’s core payments revenues, it added.

The tech investor also stated that PayU’s Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) platform LazyCard in India is shut down. “The consolidated trading loss narrowed by US$62m in local currency, excluding M&A to US$22m, due to improved profitability in GPO, Turkey and savings from the closure of India’s LazyCard business,” Prosus revealed.

The growth in revenues largely came from its existing merchants and payment processing stack Wibmo, as new merchant signups continued to be paused for the Indian entity after a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) order, it said.

Prosus‘ core Payment Service Provider (PSP) revenue is primarily made up of payments operations in India, GPO (Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America), Iyzico (Turkey) and Red Dot Payments (south-east Asia), the report added.

In August of 2023, PayU agreed to sell its GPO business, excluding Turkey and Red Dot Payments, to Rapyd, a fintech-as-a-service provider, for $610 million. Prosus said that the sale will close in the first half of calendar 2024.

The credit business in India for PayU grew revenue by 23% to $43 million. The India Credit loan book size grew by 66% to $338 million at the end of September 2023 after issuing $362 million in credit during the first half of FY24.

Prosus’s said that the Payments and Fintech segment operates profitable core PSP businesses despite pending regulatory approvals. However, the firm is in talks with authorities and expects a resolution soon. In December 2022, the RBI had issued an order to firms including PayU, Razorpay and Cashfree to stop onboarding new merchants to the platform.

Meanwhile, PayU’s consolidated business saw its revenue surge 21% year-on-year (YoY) to $497 million in the first half of the FY24 from $412 million in H1 FY23.

“India is Prosus’ largest market in the core PSP segment, contributing around 48% of revenues. In 1H24, PayU’s revenues grew significantly, driven by growth from existing merchants, Wibmo and its omnichannel business,” added Prosus.

According to a report by Blomberg News, PayU’s India unit is seeking an initial public offering within the next 12 months. “We are preparing for a potential listing of PayU, aiming for the second half of next calendar year,” Prosus interim Chief Executive Officer Ervin Tu said on a call Wednesday after Prosus published its fiscal first half results.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Swiggy’s food delivery business up 17% to $1.43 billion

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Online food delivery platform Swiggy’s core food-delivery business grew 17% and delivered gross merchandise value (GMV) of $1.43 billion in the first half of FY24, investor Prosus stated in its financial filing. According to the tech investor, this was led by a rise in active users, which drove order growth and inflation in average order value (AOV).

“Core food-delivery EBITDA losses in 1H24 (the first half of the 2024 fiscal) shrunk 89%, led by improvements in contributing margin and operating leverage. Combined, these reflect customers’ willingness to pay for convenience, and restaurants’ willingness to advertise for growth,” Prosus said.

Prosus, which holds a 32.7% stake in the food-tech giant, revealed that the losses reduced to $208 million compared to $321 million in the previous year.

Prosus added that Swiggy’s quick-commerce business made rapid strides as customer adoption drove order growth. Basket sizes grew well ahead of inflation. Instamart’s store count ended the period 19% higher in June, contributing to its GMV growth of 63%.

“With the platform focused on gaining scale and moving towards profitability in the 25 cities where it operates, Instamart’s first-half contribution losses fell by around 75%. Broader product selection, densification of the store network and faster delivery times have continued to aid customer acquisition and retention,” Prosus added.

Last month, US-based investment company Invesco marked up Swiggy’s valuation to about $7.85 billion. Earlier in May, Invesco slashed Swiggy’s valuation to about $5.5 billion.

Also read: Byju’s valued at less than $3 billion now by its investor Prosus

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

PayU sells its GPO biz to Rapyd for $610 million; to focus on India’s fintech market

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Fintech giant PayU is selling its Global Payments Organisation (GPO) business for $610 million in an all-cash deal to Rapyd, the fintech-as-a-service startup. According to Dutch investor Prosus, the deal will enable its fintech arm to focus on the large payments and fintech opportunity in India, where it is serving more than 450,000 merchants and over 2 million credit customers.

“We are now fully focused on the huge fintech opportunity in India, where PayU is the leading payments service provider and is rapidly expanding its credit offering,” said Bob van Dijk, CEO, Prosus. “As one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, we strongly believe in digital India and are excited about the next phase of growth for PayU in India,” he added.

In FY23, PayU India reported $400 million in revenue for the financial year ended in March 2023, a growth of 31 percent. PayU India facilitated more than 1.2 billion transactions with a Gross Transaction Value (GTV) worth $39 billion at a growth rate of 30 percent year-on-year.

“PayU’s payments business is one of the largest, fastest growing and most profitable businesses in India among non-banking players, delivering 42 per cent year on year growth in the last year alone,” said Laurent le Moal, PayU CEO.

As per Prosus’ statement, the business contributes around 30 per cent of PayU’s overall revenues. In FY23, total payment volumes for GPO grew 12 per cent year-on-year to $34 billion, which is around a 3x growth in 5 years.

The investment firm further claimed that PayU’s GPO business has grown considerably in recent years, with payment volumes growing more than 300 percent in the past five years alone. PayU’s GPO business provides e-commerce payment solutions for global merchants in over 30 countries across Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa.

“The business occupies a strong position in the global fintech space as a result of the investments made in building an exceptional local payments business, with global scale,” said Dijk.

The acquiring firm Rapyd provides APIs to enable payments, card issuing, digital wallet and other financial services to companies like Uber and Ikea and said it is taking a significant step forward in its growth with a big acquisition. Rapyd is currently valued at $8.75 billion and has raised more than $806 million, with its current investors including the likes of Fidelity, Dragoneer, General Catalyst and Target Global, as well fintech giant Stripe.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. “This transaction will help Rapyd to significantly scale and market its presence in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America, while also gaining access to relevant underlying licenses and payment processing infrastructure,” the statement said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

BYJU’S regularly disregarded advice, says global investor Prosus

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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BYJU’S executive leadership regularly disregarded advice and recommendations relating to strategic, operational, legal, and corporate governance matters despite repeated efforts from Prosus Director, the Dutch listed investor in the edtech giant said in a statement.

In the statement, Prosus said: “BYJU’S grew considerably since our first investment in 2018, but, over time, its reporting and governance structures did not evolve sufficiently for a company of that scale.

Prosus, which this year slashed its valuation of BYJU’S to $5.1 billion from $22 billion last year, said the decision for its director to step down from BYJU’S board last month was mainly because he was “unable to fulfil his fiduciary duty to serve the long-term interests of the company and its stakeholders”.

Reacting to the statement, BYJU’s has said it updated shareholders about the definitive steps it has taken to improve corporate governance and financial reporting. It added that it has noted the observations of its valued investors.

Prosus’ statement comes at a time when the country’s most-valued unicorn is under pressure to improve its reporting and corporate governance standards after the resignation of its auditor and the exit of its three investors from the board.

Prosus is the only investor that has come out with a statement on the alleged reporting and governance issues at the edtech.

The resignations of GV Ravishankar of Peak XV Partners, earlier Sequoia Capital India, Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Vivian Wu mean BYJU’S board now only comprises the founder’s family.

Prosus said the company continued to believe in the potential of BYJU’S and its role in revolutionising access to quality education around the world. “As a shareholder, Prosus will continue to assert its rights, collaborating with other shareholders and government authorities to safeguard the long-term interests of the company and its stakeholders,” it said.

Meanwhile, BYJU’S has constituted a board advisory committee to steady the ship. Former BI chairperson Rajnish Kumar and early backer TV Mohandas Pai are on the panel that has been tasked to steer the company to clear waters.

Also, earlier in June, BYJU’s and its lenders filed lawsuits against each other in the US courts as tensions escalated with the edtech missing a $40-million interest repayment.

It’s been known that BYJU’s has been suffering a cash crunch and $700 million in funding is yet to fully come in. So, to conserve costs, BYJU’s also laid off more than 3,500 employees since last year.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Prosus looks to sell OLX autos as it drags profitability for the classifieds operator

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Prosus Ventures is exploring options to offload OLX Group’s used-car marketplace—OLX Autos—as reversal of pandemic trends have led to a significant and persistent slowdown in the pre-owned car market, the Amsterdam-based investment company explained in a statement.

The move comes shortly after the OLX Group, in January, fired over 1,500 employees, or 15 percent of its global workforce, as part of a restructuring plan to cut costs in a souring economic environment. Several employees were also laid off in India, a market OLX Group entered as early as 2009.

While the core classifieds business of the OLX Group has continued to deliver a strong performance, the OLX Autos vertical has been eating into profits. “The exit of OLX Autos will lead to a significant improvement in the profitability profile of the Classifieds segment as a whole,” said Prosus, explaining the decision to cut the vertical loose for a better cash position at the company-level.

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For the six-month period ending September 2022, Prosus blamed OLX Autos for single-handedly expanding its adjusted EBITDA loss at the company-level from $105 million to $251 million. The key reason for the bleeding at OLX Autos has been an industry-wide phenomenon, as selling of used-cars changed during the pandemic, with a capital-intensive refurbishment model and ‘direct-to-consumer’ drive.

Between April and September 2022, OLX Autos sold 114,000 cars at a 60 percent year-on-year growth, but at a $206 million loss over the same period, which dragged OLX Classifieds’ bottomline in spite of profits at OLX Europe and OLX Brazil.

“While OLX Autos has built leading positions across many of its key markets as a result of its strong technology platforms and local focus, pursuing a global growth strategy is no longer the right approach for our shareholders,” said Prosus Ventures, which is a subsidiary of the South African tech giant—Naspers.

Naspers, which was also among the earliest investors in Tencent, acquired majority of ownership in OLX in 2010 and brought it under the oversight of Prosus.

In India, Prosus’ portfolio of startups includes unicorns such as BYJU’s, Swiggy, Meesho, PharmEasy, Mensa Brands, ElasticRun and The Good Glamm Group.

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

$4.7 billion PayU deal termination a setback for Indian fintech industry, says BillDesk Co-Founder

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A “setback” for India’s fintech industry, that’s the first word from BillDesk’s co-founder on the aborted $4.7 billion deal with PayU, which would have been one of the largest fintech deals in the country.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18‘s Ritu Singh, Billdesk’s co-founder Srinivasu M N says the deal’s termination was a “disappointment”, adding that this will create a trust deficit on how Indian companies view foreign investors.

“It has been a disappointment for the industry and it has also been a setback from a fintech industry perspective of what would have been a large deal and the manner in which it was, perhaps called off. So we will just have to wait for time to see how this evolves,” Srinivasu said,

Talking about the implication, he said that India did its job into the regulatory clearances to asking the right questions. “So I think the implication is more from how do Indian companies look at foreign investors sticking to their word,” he added.

Watch video for more.

Also Read: Prosus terminates $4.7 billion deal to acquire payments firm BillDesk

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Startup Digest: Prosus terminates BillDesk’s acquisition, XDC Network gets $50 mn from LDA Capital & Vance nets $5.8 mn in seed round

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Prosus terminates $4.7 billion deal to acquire payments firm BillDesk

Prosus, the global investment arm of South African multinational Naspers, has announced that it has cancelled a $4.7 billion deal to buy payments firm BillDesk through its subsidiary PayU, after conditions on the deal weren’t met.

The deal had received approval by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in September, though “certain conditions precedent” weren’t met by the deadline at the end of last month, Prosus said in a statement. The company didn’t elaborate on the conditions.

“Closing of the transaction was subject to the fulfillment of various conditions precedent, including approval by the CCI. PayU secured CCI approval on September 5.

However, certain conditions precedent were not fulfilled by the September 30 long stop date, and the agreement has terminated automatically in accordance with its terms and, accordingly, the proposed transaction will not be implemented,” the firm said.

Prosus has been a long-term investor and operator in India — investing close to $6 billion in Indian technology companies since 2005. According to Bloomberg, the takeover would have been Prosus’s largest acquisition to date and was meant to create a digital payment giant in India.

Since the deal was announced last year, the market for payments companies in India has weakened, and Prosus didn’t want to proceed after BillDesk missed the deadline. There’s no break fee associated with the deal.

XDC Network gets $50 million from LDA Capital

Enterprise-grade blockchain startup the XDC Network has bagged $50 million from global alternative investment group LDA Capital. The founders of the XDC Network have leveraged a portion of their personal token allocations to secure the capital which will be used to accelerate the expansion and development of layer 2 projects across the XDC ecosystem and to facilitate network adoption and real-world utility.

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LDA support will help fund new ventures and entities laser-focused on increasing network adoption among retail and institutional participants, jumpstarting on-chain activity and total value locked (TVL), and supporting technological innovation, a statement said.

Vance nets $5.8 million in seed round led by Hummingbird Ventures

Global neo-banking platform Vance has secured $5.8 million in a seed funding round led by Hummingbird Ventures. Global Founders Capital, YCombinator, Soma Capital and angel investors such as Alan Rutledge and Gokul Rajaram, also participated in the funding round.

Vance was a part of YCombinator’s Winter 2022 batch and plans on going live in the UAE and UK by the end of 2022. By Q1 2023, the goal is to launch in five additional countries.

The startup aims to leverage its seed round to expand their 10-member team to 30 in the next 6 months. The funds will also be used to create products like remittances, savings accounts, and investments, a statement said.

Mufin Green raises $5.7 million from Incofin in Series A round

Electric Vehicle financing startup Mufin Green Finance has raised $5.7 million in its series A funding round led by Incofin India Progress Fund (IPF). The company is planning to disburse income-generating loans worth Rs 5,000 crore in the next 5 years, resulting in an overall reduction of 4 million tonnes of carbon emission, a statement said.

“This funding has put us at the forefront of organised EV financing sector. As India’s first listed NBFC dedicated to Climate- EV financing, we are planning to disburse income-generating loans worth Rs 5,000 crore in the next 5 years,” said Kapil Garg, co-founder and managing director of Mufin Green Finance.

The firm claims to have financed EVs worth Rs 160 crore across 9 States. While promoting a clean and green environment, the company said that it has helped reduced 100,000 tonnes of carbon footprints.

White.Inc bags over $1 million from Dholakia Ventures, Inflection Point Ventures and others

White.Inc, a house of digitally native brands, has raised over $1 million in a seed funding round led by Dholakia Ventures, along with Inflection Point Ventures and First Port’s participation.

Angel investors, including Suhail Sameer and Shashvat Nakrani from BharatPe, Guruvanth Vaid from 4G Capital Ventures, and Aniket Gore from Ceramet Group, also participated in the round.

The firm intends to use the fresh capital to further build its team, product development, brand development, and bolster its tech infrastructure.

Techfino receives a term loan of Rs 15 crore from SBI

Bengaluru-based NBFC Techfino Capital has received a term loan of Rs 15 crore from the State Bank of India for a tenure of two years to expand its education loan portfolio.

Also Read: Government to set up 100 5G labs in the country, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

In FY 2021-22, the firm claims to have disbursed loans worth Rs 100 crore across all of its portfolios. The company said that it will be adding around 2,500 quality customers monthly, slated to grow to over 3,000 in the next few months. Techfina said it has delivered a healthy Return on Equity (ROE) of over 20 percent while maintaining a solid portfolio quality.

Google to nurture 20 startups by Indian women founders

Google has announced the first class of 20 women-founded/co-founded startups, selected from close to 400 applications, for the inaugural cohort of ‘Google for Startups Accelerator-India Women Founders’.

The tech giant will place special emphasis on access to networks, access to capital, hiring challenges, mentorship, and many others which, for a variety of social reasons and low representation, prove challenging for female founders.

In addition to these, the curriculum will include workshops and support around AI/ML, Cloud, UX, Android, Web, product strategy, and growth, as well as provide access to a global community of women founders, said the company. Some of the startups selected are Aspire for Her, Brown Living, CoLLearn Education, Commudle, Dubverse, Elda Health, Fitbots and more.

QSR chain Wow! Momo enters into Metaverse

Wow! Momo Foods which operates with three brands – Wow! Momo, Wow! China and Wow! Chicken, has launched its three outlets in the metaverse. The brands are on a new metaverse platform called FESTEMVERSE – that curates Festivals of India across the year.

Currently, FESTEMVERSE is available for android users; soon to be available on IOS devices too. All the consumers need to do is download FESTEMVERSE from the pay-store or Apple App Store, create their avatar and plunge into the immersive experience of the platform, a statement said.

The brand aims to start trading from their metaverse and consumers can trade on Metaverse stores and convert NFTs and redeem it on physical outlets.

“Metaverse is an investment for the future; whilst we are launch partners for FESTEMVERSE today; our aim is to grow this and at the same time also be part of all the popular metaverse platforms,” said Sagar Daryani, CEO and co-founder, Wow! Momo Foods.

T-Hub & RNTBCI award Rs 40 lakh grant to 4 startups

Startup incubator T-Hub along with Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India (RNTBCI), awarded Rs 40 lakh to four startups for their winning solutions to develop their Proof of Concepts (PoCs).

The startups that received the capital include Imaginate, mSense, MayaMD, and RACEnergy. In addition, they also received an opportunity to pitch to RNTBCI leadership and gain access to their global mentorship network, a statement said.

T-Hub and RNTBCI earlier this year partnered for the Open Innovation Challenge that offered startups an opportunity to participate under themes like Mobility as a Service, First and Last Mile Connectivity, Circular Economy, and Digitization. A cohort of 20 startups participated in a pre-pitch session, and a further 10 were chosen to work on specific use cases.

Over 14 million cyber-attacks blocked daily: Indusface Report

The rapidly changing geo-political scenarios such as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war have made a significant impact on cybersecurity, according to a report by Indusface, a software-as-a-service security firm.

As per the report over 418 million attacks were blocked in August-September after 40,756 open vulnerabilities were found in applications. 30 percent of vulnerabilities have been open for more than 180 days, the report added.

Also Read: Enormous potential in Indian start-up market, says Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin

It also highlighted that the top vulnerability categories identified include insecure content security policy, application error message, email address disclosure, and HTML injection, among others.

695 websites experienced a bot attack but were successfully blocked by AppTrana and most of the bot attacks originated from Russia, it added.
46 percent share of firms who got attacked were with revenues of $10 million-$1 billion and 31 percent of companies are large enterprises with more than $1 billion in revenue.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Tencent shifts focus to majority deals, overseas gaming assets for growth

Tencent is resetting its M&A strategy to put more focus on buying majority stakes mainly in overseas gaming companies, as the tech giant eyes global expansion to offset slowing growth at home in China, Reuters reported.

Tencent has for years invested in hundreds of up-and-coming businesses, mainly in the onshore market. It has typically acquired minority stakes and stayed invested as a passive financial investor. However, it is now aggressively seeking to own the majority or even controlling stakes in overseas targets, notably in gaming assets in Europe.

The shift comes as the world’s number one gaming firm by revenue is counting on global markets for its future growth, which requires a strong portfolio of chart-topping games, the report added.

Italian court scraps antitrust fine on Apple and Amazon

An Italian administrative court scrapped a fine imposed by the country’s antitrust authority on US tech giants Apple and Amazon for alleged collusion, as per documents seen by Reuters.

The antitrust authority fined both companies a total of more than 200 million euros ($195.3 million) in 2021, citing alleged anti-competitive cooperation in the sale of Apple and Beats products.

Earlier this year, the fine was reduced to an overall 173.3 million euros due to a “material error” in the first calculation. Amazon said in a statement it welcomed the court’s decision.

NFT sales plunge in Q3, down by 60% from Q2

Sales of non-fungible tokens dropped sharply in the third quarter, according to blockchain tracker DappRadar, as crypto investors hunker down for a “crypto winter” and demand for the highly speculative digital assets shows little sign of returning.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a kind of blockchain-based asset representing a digital file such as an image, video or item in an online game. They exploded in popularity in 2021, as crypto-rich speculators rushed to cash in on rising prices, but sales volumes have slumped in recent months.

The third quarter of 2022 saw $3.4 billion in NFT sales, down from $8.4 billion the previous quarter and $12.5 billion at the market’s peak in the first quarter of the year, DappRadar said.

While the nascent NFT market benefited from cryptocurrency price gains and high-risk appetite among investors in 2021, these conditions have turned sharply in 2022, as central bank rate rises prompt investors to ditch risky assets. Bitcoin is trading at around $19,000, down from its November peak of $69,000.

Mobile phone critic Pope Francis meets Apple chief Tim Cook

Pope Francis, who has often said people should limit their use of cellphones and give preference to personal communication, granted a private audience on Monday to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook.

Cook, head of the $2.4 trillion company whose iPhone has revolutionised personal communication, was on the pope’s daily audience list. As is customary, the Vatican did not disclose what was discussed during the private conversation.

The 85-year-old pope has a mixed relationship with cell phones. Last year, he interrupted his general audience when an aide passed him a cellphone and took an urgent call from a senior Vatican official.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Prosus terminates $4.7 billion deal to acquire payments firm BillDesk

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Netherlands-headquartered Prosus NV announced on Monday that it has cancelled a $4.7 billion deal to buy Indian payments firm BillDesk through its subsidiary PayU, after conditions on the deal weren’t met. The deal had received approval by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in September, though “certain conditions precedent” weren’t met by the deadline at the end of last month, Prosus said in a statement.

The company didn’t elaborate on the conditions. 

“Closing of the transaction was subject to the fulfilment of various conditions precedent, including approval by the CCI. PayU secured CCI approval on September 5. However, certain conditions precedent were not fulfilled by the September 30 long stop date, and the agreement has terminated automatically in accordance with its terms and, accordingly, the proposed transaction will not be implemented,” read a company blog from Prosus.

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Prosus has been a long-term investor and operator in India — investing close to $6 billion in Indian technology companies since 2005. 

According to Bloomberg, the takeover would have been Prosus’s largest acquisition to date and was meant to create a digital payments giant in India. Since the deal was announced last year, the market for payments companies in India has weakened, and Prosus didn’t want to proceed after BillDesk missed the deadline. There’s no break fee associated with the deal.

Prosus is a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. The group is focused on building businesses in the online classifieds, food delivery, payments and fintech, and education technology sectors in markets including India, Russia, and Brazil.

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Early investors of BillDesk seen returns of over 45% CAGR over 20 years: Co-founder MN Srinivasu

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Payments company BillDesk’s acquisition by Prosus-backed PayU for $4.7 billion is not only one of the biggest deals in the Indian digital ecosystem but has also meant massive wealth creation for investors and founders who have exited completely.

Early investors have seen returns of over 45 percent CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) over 20 years, BillDesk co-founder MN Srinivasu told CNBC-TV18 while speaking about the decision to sell the company instead of going for an IPO, and what the combined entity will look like.

For the founders as well, who owned about a 10 percent stake each in BillDesk as per Tracxn, the deal has brought windfalls of close to $500 million each as they exit fully.

Also read: PNB Housing Finance shares fall after Sebi moves Supreme Court against SAT order

Here are a few excerpts from the conversation with BillDesk co-founder MN Srinivasu:

ON SELLING BILLDESK

How does it feel right now, selling the company you have built for two decades? What have the last few days been like?

The deal is a validation of what we have created in India. It is a proud moment for BillDesk employees and a big moment for fintech in India.

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ON SELLING BILLDESK vs IPO

What led to this decision. What made you choose between an IPO and this? An IPO could have probably given you a better valuation.

We evaluated what will be good overall for the Indian fintech ecosystem. We evaluated an IPO. The choice was between an IPO and a transaction like this. We wanted to provide liquidity to investors. The option of Prosus came up as we were evaluating the IPO. Prosus is a great fit, it is a financial investor and has a strategic interest in payments.

WAS BILLDESK ON THE BLOCK?

You went with Prosus because they are a strategic player in this space. There were reports that Billdesk was on the block for some time and that you were talking to other players as well. What were the discussions with Prosus and when did it begin?

We were not talking to anyone for a sale, it was all media speculation. Prosus was the only party we engaged with. We started exploring the next step for BillDesk at the beginning of 2021. Prosus reached out in March-April 2021, the senior management engaged in the discussions with us and closed the deal in a few months.

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CO-FOUNDERS’ ROLE GOING FORWARD​

Will you and your co-founders stay on? Usually, when the founders exit a company, they move on. What is the agreement here?

We will continue to stay on to scale BillDesk and PayU platforms. We are looking to leverage both platforms for scale. There were options to only partially exit, but we wanted to go with the most efficient way forward, which was to sell 100 percent of BillDesk to Prosus.

ON WEALTH CREATION

You are among the few companies where the founders still held a significant stake. You have now got close to $500 million each from this deal. Your investors will be very happy. What are the kind of returns for your investors? Some have stayed for over a decade.

Some early investors including angel investors and venture investors such as Clearstone would have got returns of over 45 percent CAGR over 20 years as per our estimates. We hope our investors are happy with the returns.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow