Prosus puts R878m into Indian fruit marketplace

• Venture arm of Naspers’ international unit focusing on fast-growing Asian economy

Prosus continues to pour money into India, taking part in a R878m capital raise for Vegrow, a digital marketplace for fruit.

Given the mission to diversify beyond China and its $100bn Tencent, the group has now focused much of its attention on India, one of the world’s most populous countries and fastestgrowing economies, with 1.4billion people.

The venture arm of Naspers’ international unit this week took part in the $46m (R878.11m) round for primary and secondary funding, led by GIC, Singapore’s

sovereign wealth fund. For GIC, this marks its first agritech investment in India.

Prosus has and continues to position itself as an active investor in India with about $7bn in capital having been deployed in the country to date.

The new funding for Vegrow is said to have had significant participation from existing investor Prosus Ventures, and continued support from Matrix Partners India, Elevation Capital, and Lightspeed.

Avendus Capital was the only financial adviser to Vegrow on this transaction.

Founded in 2020 by Praneeth Kumar, Mrudhukar Batchu, Kiran Naik and Shobhit Jain, the company works as a business to business intermediary in India’s agriculture market, matching produce farmers and buyers on its platform.

The tech start-up specialises in fruit. The funds will be used to expand Vegrow’s reach across India and strengthen its global network.

“Vegrow has experienced a remarkable fivefold increase in revenue, having done this within three years of its inception.

“Typically, it takes double the time to achieve this scale of operations,” said Kumar.

The company’s strategy is an advancement in the efficiency and reliability of the fruit ecosystem, he said.

The company has taken up a sizeable share in India’s fruit market.

Although this market is said to be large and unorganised but poised for tech-led disruption due to its fragmented and localised operational structure and is characterised by the involvement of multiple intermediaries facilitating transactions.

Vegrow says that its competitive advantage is the depth of its demand network across multiple channels and its use of technology for matching demand and supply of fruit. The company also helps farmers to push up their incomes by accurately grading produce and matching it with the most suitable area or channel of demand.

This system creates a cycle, attracting more farmers through competitive pricing, as well as more buyers who seek consistency in both price and quality.

Prosus Ventures says that Vegrow operates in an attractive sector and is creating “a superior experience on both the supply and demand sides”.

“The founding team has demonstrated strong execution capabilities and a focused approach on profitability.”

Buoyed by this growth outlook, Prosus Ventures has increased its ownership in the company.

THE FOUNDING TEAM DEMONSTRATED STRONG EXECUTION CAPABILITIES