Prosus is buying back in a bigger way Fortunately for Prosus, it sold about 2% of its remaining Tencent stake for about $14.6 billion in April of this year -- just before Tencent's stock took a big plunge. Prosus' average sale price was for $595 Hong Kong dollars per share, compared with an August low of HK$412 per share and today's price of HK$496 per share. In August, Prosus, like Tencent, also began a new share repurchase program, which will total $5 billion. Since then, Prosus has been purchasing about $250 million of its own stock per week, and it already repurchased about $1.5 billion just since late August. Those repurchases should be incredibly accretive, since Prosus trades at a big discount to its net asset value (NAV), about 80% of which consists of that remaining Tencent stake. How big of a discount? Well, Prosus recently released a table outlining the value of its listed and unlisted assets, which the company estimates at 123 euros per share. That compares with its current share price of just 71.50 euros! In fact, just the Tencent stake alone is worth about 97.20 euros per share -- still 36% higher than Prosus' current share price. That Prosus sold Tencent stock at HK$595 per share in April and is now buying back the equivalent of Tencent stock at HK$364 per share today is immediately increasing the intrinsic value of the Prosus stock. https://www.fool.com/investing/2021...hoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
Berlin, 14 October 2021 Delivery Hero SE (“Delivery Hero”), the world’s leading local delivery platform, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with hugo to acquire the multi-category marketplace’s core food delivery and quick commerce business in Central America and the Caribbean. Founded in 2017, hugo is currently active in over 40 cities across six countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. With more than 800 employees and 1.3 million registered users, the company offers multi-category marketplace services for food delivery, grocery delivery, pharmacy delivery and e-commerce, as well as on-demand and financial services. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2022 and subject to relevant regulatory approvals. Delivery Hero acquires hugo’s food and grocery delivery verticals and expands its footprint in Central America and the Caribbean – Delivery Hero
New Delhi, India – 27 October 2021 – DeHaat, the technology-based platform offering end-to-end agricultural services to farmers in India, today announced it has raised US$115 million in Series D funding, led by Belgium based investment firm Sofina and Lightrock India. Temasek co-invested in the round, with participation from existing investors Prosus Ventures, RTP Global, Sequoia Capital India and FMO. Dexter Capital and Vertices Partners were the advisors of this funding round. Shashank Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO at DeHaat, said: “We at DeHaat are on a mission of building the world’s largest Agritech platform. We have raised US$ 157 million from marquee investors in the last thirty months and our team has grown to a brigade of 850+ professionals with deep expertise in Growth & Strategy, Supply chain, Technology & Agricultural science. The last seven months have been phenomenal with 5x growth for DeHaat. Hence we are now well poised to replicate the success in all major agriculture clusters of India in the next 12-15 months.” Based in Gurgaon and Patna and founded in 2012 by IIT, IIM & NIT alumni Amrendra Singh, Shyam Sundar, Adarsh Srivastav & Shashank Kumar, DeHaat is a technology-based business to farmers (B2F) platform that offers full-stack agricultural services to farmers, including distribution of high-quality agricultural inputs, customised farm advisory, access to financial services, and market linkages for selling their produce. With an aim to drive efficiency & transparency in the country's US$ 350 billion Agritech industry, DeHaat has been building a digitised network of farmers as well as last-mile service providers & providing direct access to farmers through its physical as well as a digital platform. DeHaat has currently built a rural retail network of more than 3,000 DeHaat microentrepreneurs for last-mile delivery as well as aggregation, serving more than 650,000 farmers located across Bihar, UP, Jharkhand & Odisha. DeHaat has now started expanding to new geographies like MP & Rajasthan with a complete 360 degree set of Agri offerings for farmers. As per the company, DeHaat has a strong commitment to continue investing in the technology. Earlier this year, it acquired Farm Guide - a SaaS-based platform to provide satellite-based insights & advisory to farmers. The current tech team has grown to 120, building unique AI/ML-based solutions related to crop advisory, last-mile supply chain traceability & B2B SaaS agritech platform for input sellers as well as output buyers. Full-stack Agritech platform DeHaat raises US$115 million in series D round (prosus.com)
Bucharest, October 28 2021 – Flip, a Romanian startup in the Recommerce market, lands the first eMAG Ventures accelerated investment worth 1.5 million euros and targets the leading position in Central and Eastern Europe. Launched in December 2019 by three young Romanian entrepreneurs, George Moroianu (24 years old), Alin Luca (27 years old) and Alex Burghelia (23 years old), Flip buys, refurbishes and sells smartphones. Flip has evolved rapidly so far, reaching 50.000 customers in less than two years. They sold the first smartphone in December 2019 and they reached a turnover of 2.5 million euros at the end of last year. During this time, the team has grown to its current 50 employees. The three founders estimate a turnover of 14 million euros in 2021 and plan to expand the team to over 100 employees, by mid-2022. Across Europe, the smartphone market is worth over €100BN, but used or refurbished phones currently make up just over 10% of that and only 25% of pre-owned phones are currently re-sold. Re-commerce is expected to increase in the context of stepped up efforts on sustainability, specifically on electronics where the “right to repair” drives the lifespan extension of current devices. In CEE, Flip will address a market worth 1 billion euros annually. Romanian startup Flip lands €1.5M from Prosus-owned eMAG, plans CEE leadership in refurbished products
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's government on Wednesday ordered 38 apps from a number of companies including social media giant Tencent Corp to rectify what it called the excessive collection of personal information. The order marks the latest move in a continuing regulatory crackdown in China across a range of sectors, and arrives days after China's Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), a sweeping ordinance dictating online privacy practices, went into full effect. In a statement posted on a social media account of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the regulator found that the apps in question collected unnecessary personal information. It ordered the apps to rectify their practices before November 9 or face administrative penalties. The apps listed included a news app and music streaming app from Tencent, as well as the beauty-oriented social network Xiaohongshu. Tencent and Xiaohongshu did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China's implementation of its privacy law arrives amid increasing public scrutiny about privacy and data collection from large tech companies. The law complements the Data Security Law, a framework for how companies store and classify data, which also went into effect this year. (Reporting by Josh Horwitz, Editing by Louise Heavens, William Maclean) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-ministry-orders-38-apps-100155200.html
London — 3 November 2021 — Collective Benefits, an insurance and benefits marketplace for independent workers, today announced a US$10 million investment from Prosus Ventures, the venture investing arm of Prosus, one of the largest technology investors in the world. Collective Benefits offers much-needed insurance and benefits for independent workers across sectors. This includes sick pay, accident and injury insurance, wellness, financial and education support, as well as a perks marketplace. This new funding will allow Collective Benefits to expand its suite of products and services for independent workers, as well as continue to expand its presence as the market leader across Europe and beyond. Prosus has been investing in and operating platforms that depend on independent workers for nearly a decade, including ride sharing, food delivery and home services. This investment highlights the industry’s increasing focus on worker wellbeing and social impact in building a more sustainable future for independent workers. “We're delighted to welcome Prosus Ventures as an investor in Collective Benefits,” said Anthony Beilin, CEO and co-founder at Collective Benefits. “They have significant expertise investing in and operating platforms that work with independent workers, and are an ideal partner to set the stage for Collective Benefits’ next phase of growth. We are transforming a hundred-year-old industry to finally serve the real needs and wants of the growing independent workforce. With this fresh funding, we’re on our way to realise our vision to create valuable benefits for independent workers.” The only provider focused exclusively on insurance and benefits for independent workers, Collective Benefits has experienced solid traction since launching less than 18 months ago and is now live in over 20 markets, serving more than 200,000 members. The company’s vision is two-fold: to be the marketplace for independent workers, allowing them to enjoy all the benefits that employers would traditionally offer to full-time employees, and be the go-to partner for independent worker platforms, giving them a tangible solution to provide these protections and benefits to their workers. “The pandemic has accelerated the momentum of flexible and independent work,” said Sandeep Bakshi, Head of European Investments for Prosus Ventures. “Collective Benefits is in a unique position at the forefront of the demand for independent worker benefits. The company’s mission fits well within our investment thesis to find transformational technology solutions that create a meaningful impact by addressing large societal needs. We see clear opportunities for expansion across the independent economy and we’re excited for what’s to come.” A significant and increasing portion of the workforce is employed through independent work. Currently, 96% of independent workers are without any form of income protection and over 50% have less than £200 in savings. In the European Union alone, nearly 24 million people, or 11% of the EU workforce, have provided services for a digital platform at least once. This vulnerability creates an unsustainable situation, not just for the workers, but also the companies that depend on them. As such, platform companies are looking for sustainable business solutions from which all parties can benefit. Offering more inclusive workplace benefits are a necessary next step, enabling platform companies to scale, attract and retain the best talent. Collective Benefits announces US$10 million investment from Prosus
SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tencent Music Entertainment Group ("TME," or the "Company") (NYSE: TME), the leading online music and audio entertainment platform in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021. Financial and Operational Highlights In the three months ended September 30, 2021: Total revenues were RMB7.81 billion (US$1.21billion), representing an increase of 3.0% year-over-year. Online music services revenues grew by 24.3% year-over-year. Revenues from music subscriptions were RMB1.90 billion (US$295 million), representing 30.2% year-over-year growth. Online music paying users reached 71.2 million, increasing by 37.7% year-over-year. On a sequential basis, the number of online music paying users grew by 5.0 million. Paying ratio was 11.2%, up from 8.0% in the third quarter of 2020 and 10.6% in the second quarter of 2021, respectively. Net profit of the Company was RMB788 million (US$122 million) and net profit attributable to equity holders of the Company was RMB740 million (US$115 million). Non-IFRS net profit of the Company[1] was RMB1.06 billion (US$165 million) and Non-IFRS net profit attributable to equity holders of the Company[1] was RMB1.02 billion (US$158 million). https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tencent-music-entertainment-group-announces-210500865.html
New York, NY November 10th, 2021: The Good Glamm Group, South Asia’s largest content-to-commerce conglomerate has raised $150 million funding in its Series D round, including both primary and secondary sales, co-led by marquee tech and private equity investors Prosus Ventures, Warburg Pincus along with the participation from Alteria Capital and existing investors L’Occitane, Bessemer Venture Partners, Amazon, Ascent Capital and the Mankekar Family Office. The Good Glamm Group comprises a portfolio of proprietary beauty & personal care brands that are powered by a proprietary digital ecosystem of content, community, and creator assets Good Glamm Group raises $150 million in Series D round co-led by Warburg Pincus & Prosus
Tencent 3Q Net CNY39.51B Vs. Net CNY38.54B Published: Nov. 10, 2021 By Yifan Wang Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s third-quarter profit edged up 3%, a significant slowdown from earlier this year amid soft advertising income and continued weakness in its gaming business. The company, in its quarterly earnings release, played up its commitment to China's policy of common prosperity, and highlighted its efforts to ensure compliance with new gaming regulations amid heightened regulatory scrutiny on the broader technology sector. Tencent, the world's largest videogame developer, on Wednesday posted net profit of 39.51 billion yuan ($6.18 billion) for the July-to-September quarter. Revenue grew 13% to CNY142.37 billion. Tencent's profit beat analyst estimates, but revenue fell short, according to FactSet. The company's top-line growth was weighed down by weak gaming revenue growth, which has been slowing since the beginning of the year. Domestic games revenue rose by a mere 5%, while international games revenue grew 20%, compared with a 45% jump in the overall games segment during the same period last year. Tencent said it will report revenue growth for domestic and international games separately going forward. Pressure also came from a soft advertising business, whose revenue rose by 5%. Tencent expects the business to remain weak for several quarters to come, citing macroeconomic challenges and regulations affecting certain key advertising sectors. Tencent, like many other technology giants around the world, had booked lofty profits since the coronavirus pandemic started, as homebound consumers turned to online products and services. But the upbeat momentum began to fade in recent months, as concerns grew about falling demand for online services as pandemic-triggered lockdowns eased, while China's aggressive tightening of regulations stoked investor fears over the country's internet sector. Tencent has been hit particularly hard by Beijing's tougher gaming rules. In August, authorities severely restricted younger gamers' playtime to just three hours each week, and later put all new game approvals on hold. Since then, Tencent has repeatedly pledged to self-regulate and combat user addiction in a bid to fall in line with regulators. Earlier this month, Tencent said it is shutting down Fortnite, a video game developed by Epic Games Inc., in China from November. The game has been running under test mode for three years, though its China operator never received approval to sell in-app items and monetize from the game. New regulations on data security and stricter enforcement of antitrust rules have also raised investor worries about Tencent's operations. The string of regulatory actions sent Tencent shares tumbling to a one-year low in August, and they have lost over 18% the past six months. Write to Yifan Wang at [email protected] Tencent 3Q Net CNY39.51B Vs. Net CNY38.54B >0700.HK - MarketWatch
Prosus sees H1 earnings per share up 400% on Tencent stake sale AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Technology investor Prosus NV expects a large rise in earnings per share for the first half of its 2022 fiscal year, the firm said on Tuesday, as it gained proceeds of $12.3 billion from selling part of its stake in Tencent in April. In a premarket statement, Amsterdam-based Prosus said earnings per share for the six months that ended on Sept. 30 would be up between 439% and 446% from $1.85 per share for the corresponding year-earlier period. It added that "core headline earnings" per share, a non-standard measure it uses to indicate operating performance, would be up 5% to 12% from $1.34 per share. That improvement was driven by an increase in the dividends it received from Tencent, in which it still holds a 28.9% stake worth 157 billion euros ($179 billion), after selling 2% in April. Prosus owns stakes in a large range of consumer internet companies, ranging from food delivery to educational software to online marketplaces. "These results reflect a diverse e-commerce portfolio, which has grown significantly in value," Prosus said in a statement. "We aim to increase the size of this portfolio over coming years. Prosus, which is controlled by Naspers of South Africa, is due to report earnings on Monday, Nov. 22. ($1 = 0.8790 euros) (Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Kirsten Donovan) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/prosus-sees-h1-earnings-per-071813917.html
Bengaluru, India, 16 November 2021 Mensa Brands has announced its Series B fundraise of US$135 million, led by Alpha Wave Ventures | Falcon Edge Capital with participation from all existing investors - Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Tiger Global Management. Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures) also invested in Mensa in this latest funding round. Within six months of starting the business, Mensa has raised a total of more than $300 million in equity and debt. Mensa is already profitable and intends to use the funding to continue partnering with founding teams of customer-loved brands and help them become household names. In addition, it’ll invest in hiring across functions and continue building out its tech platform and other growth capabilities. Mensa Brands kick-started its journey in May 2021 with a vision to partner, invest in and exponentially scale digital-first brands across fashion and apparel, home and garden, beauty and personal care and food. Mensa works closely with founding teams to accelerate growth on marketplaces, through the brand's own websites, and global platforms by using a combination of initiatives across product, pricing, marketing, distribution, and brand building with a technology platform at the core. The process of partnering with Mensa from initiation to execution is hyper-efficient, often closing within 4-8 weeks. To date, the company has partnered with 12 brands, the majority of which are growing at 100% YoY since their integration with Mensa. One partner brand, Villain, a leading men’s fragrance, and accessories brand grew by +250% in October. Another partner brand, Karagiri, a leading high-end designer sarees brand has grown by +140% in October. Speaking on the occasion Ananth Narayanan, Founder and CEO of Mensa Brands said, “We are grateful for the confidence from our investors and our brand partners. Our deep focus on technology and digital brand building, as well as our people, has allowed us to grow 3X of our initial plan and we at Mensa Brands are primed to build global breakout brands from India. I am especially proud that more than 50% of our brands are led by women founders and that Mensa supports small- and medium-sized businesses across the country. “ Navroz Udwadia, Co-founder and Partner of Alpha Wave Ventures | Falcon Edge Capital said “We are excited to continue backing Ananth Narayanan as he executes a best-in-class playbook of brand aggregation and acceleration focused on Indian and global e-commerce brands. Mensa demonstrates a tangible uplift through a combination of product and pricing optimization, technology-led process improvement, distribution and marketing augmentation and fine-tuning the supply chain. These levers meaningfully accelerate the growth and margin trajectory of the brands and make them well-poised to become category leaders. We believe Mensa is well on track to cement its reputation as the partner of choice for well-performing e-commerce brands.” Niren Shah, Managing Director and Head of Norwest Venture Partners India said “Armed with exceptional prior leadership experience in two major businesses, Ananth has been able to build a top-class team and partner with more than 12 companies to embark on a journey of building a tech-first global house of brands from India. The speed and quality of execution have been impressive, and we are delighted to continue to back Mensa as it becomes the fastest unicorn in Asia!” Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments, India, Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures) said, “Ananth brings formidable expertise in building market-leading consumer brands at scale. We are excited to support Mensa Brands in their journey to build digital-first global brands from India. Their team brings superior execution focus and technology chops to help emerging brands scale digitally. This is an incredible time for made-in-India businesses, and we look forward to helping to fuel their future success.” Subrata Mitra, Partner at Accel Partnersadded, “We're excited to continue our partnership with the superstar team at Mensa led by Ananth on their hyper-growth trajectory: it's a new approach to ecommerce that aligns our ability to identify exceptional entrepreneurs and accelerate their business with Mensa's tech platform & brand-building capabilities!” Mensa Brands raises US$135 million Series B, with participation from Prosus, at over a billion-dollar valuation
AMSTERDAM, November 22, 2021 Prosus N.V. (AEX: PRX) delivered a strong performance in the six months ending 30 September 2021, growing ecommerce revenues 53%. The group stepped up investment to further accelerate growth across its increasingly valuable internet businesses. Ecommerce revenue growth accelerated, up 53% to US$4.2bn US$5.2bn invested since 1 April 2021 to further accelerate growth Ecommerce portfolio1 valuation rises to c.US$50bn2 Trading profit grew 8% to US$2.9bn Core headline earnings grew 2% to US$2.3bn https://finance.yahoo.com/news/strong-growth-continues-prosus-top-060000425.html
Singapore, 30 November 2021 – Singapore’s leading digital wealth app Endowus announced today it has raised an additional S$35 million (US$27 million) to accelerate its growth in Singapore and across Asia to make expert wealth management accessible, affordable and convenient to everyone. This brings the company’s total funding this year to S$67 million (US$50 million). The round is co-led by Prosus Ventures, the venture investing arm of Netherlands-listed Prosus which is majority owned by Naspers (one of the largest shareholders of Tencent), and Singapore-based global investor EDBI. Endowus is EDBI’s first investment in the WealthTech sector and this is a testament to Endowus’ continued leadership in digital wealth management in Asia, as well as Singapore’s thriving fintech scene. Z Holdings, the Japan-based technology conglomerate that owns the LINE messaging app and is owned by SoftBank Corp. of Japan and Naver of Korea, will also participate in the round. Returning investors include UBS, the world’s largest wealth management bank, Singtel Innov8, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Employees of Endowus, who remain the largest shareholders of the company added to their investments, together with new investors, who are clients of Endowus, K3 Ventures (founded by Kuok Meng Xiong and early investors in Grab and Bytedance), and Wee Teng Wen (Founder & CEO of The Lo & Behold Group, a leading Singapore lifestyle and F&B group) among them. Endowus is the only digital advisor in Asia that has heavily invested in the technology that enables end-to-end investing of both private wealth and public pension assets, including in Singapore all cash savings, the Central Provident Fund (CPF) and Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS), which are all integrated for the convenience of the user on a single easy-to-use app. The Endowus platform provides savings, wealth and retirement solutions, allowing individuals to invest holistically, conveniently, and with expert advice at a low and fair cost. The company has experienced significant customer adoption and scaled into one of the largest digital wealth service providers in Asia, with total assets under advice meaningfully surpassing S$1.5 billion, less than two years after its full service launch. Leading digital wealth platform Endowus adds S$35 million in funding to accelerate growth with new strategic partners (prosus.com)
How to Buy Tencent Essentially for Free Sound crazy? It's true. Billy Duberstein (TMFStoneOak) Nov 30, 2021 at 7:55AM Author Bio Key Points The discount between Tencent and its publicly traded largest shareholder, Naspers, has become massive. Based on today's prices, there is well over 100% upside to Naspers just based on today's asset value. Accounting for non-Tencent investments, Naspers shareholders are essentially getting Tencent's core business for free. Motley Fool Issues Rare “All In” Buy Alert Longtime readers may know I think that Tencent (OTC:TCEHY) is the best company in China, and the best positioned to weather the current regulatory crackdown. Yet I don't own any Tencent shares. That's because since I have a very long time horizon, I've decided to own Tencent through its largest shareholder Naspers (OTC:NPSNY), as well as Naspers' spinoff, Prosus (OTCROSY). That's because both entities, which own a large stake in Tencent and other companies in emerging markets, began to trade at a discount to the value of their stakes in Tencent alone -- not to mention their other holdings in classifieds, food delivery, fintech, and education tech companies in developing markets. Despite management's best efforts, that discount has only widened, to the point where the valuation gap has become truly ridiculous. Just how ridiculous, you ask? Image source: Getty Images. Naspers, Prosus, and Tencent: a brief history As Tencent has grown in value over the years, Naspers began to trade at a large discount to its assets, which management attributed to its dominant size on the relatively small Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). To attempt to fix the problem, in 2019 Naspers spun off its international investments into Prosus, a holding company on the larger European Euronext Exchange, with Naspers retaining a roughly 73% majority stake in Prosus. The thinking was the spinoff would lower Naspers outsized weight on the JSE, while Prosus would trade up to fair value on the larger and more liquid Euronext Exchange. The spinoff closed the gap for a short time, but the discount began to widen again, and Naspers began to trade at a discount to Prosus. In another move, this past summer, Prosus and Naspers engaged in a share swap, in which Prosus would essentially buy 49% of Naspers' "cheaper" stock with its own more "expensive" stock, in an effort to further boost Prosus' liquidity and further lower Naspers' weight on the JSE. It's a bit complicated, since Prosus was buying shares of the company that owns a stake in itself, but management has simplified things for investors. After the swap, Naspers is essentially entitled to 41.3% of Prosus' assets as of September 30, with Prosus shareholders entitled to the remaining 58.7%. Although since Prosus is currently repurchasing shares, Naspers' ownership percentage is likely slightly higher today. Truly massive discounts Even as Tencent has fallen this year, the discount has actually widened to a remarkable extent. Management calculates that as of September 30, Prosus' net asset value (NAV) was 131.20 Euros per share, compared with just a 70.68 Euro share price today – a 46% discount. But if you look at Naspers' entitlement to the companies' assets, its discount is truly mind-boggling. As of Sept. 30, Naspers' NAV per share was estimated at 6,326 ZAR per share, compared with just a 2,461 ZAR share price today, an incredible 62% discount. Buy Tencent's $20 billion annual cash flows for free via Naspers Sure, Naspers and Prosus are cheap, but say you are worried about Tencent's future because of the Communist Party's slew of new regulations this year. No matter, because one way to think about Naspers' current price is that it's worth less than the value of its non-Tencent investments plus Tencent's own outside investments alone. Remember, Tencent is not only the leader in Chinese gaming, social media, streaming, fintech, and a strong second place in cloud computing, it's also an investor itself -- perhaps the best venture and growth company investor in the world. In its third quarter earnings release, Tencent disclosed its estimated value of its investment portfolio at $185 billion. Since Prosus owns about 28.9% of Tencent, its share of Tencent's investment portfolio comes to about $54.5 billion. Meanwhile, Prosus' stake in both private and publicly listed companies outside of Tencent was estimated at roughly $49 billion as of September 30. So when you think about it, Prosus essentially owns $103.5 billion in assets outside of Tencent's main business and subsidiaries. And remember, that was as of September 30. Given the bounce in several Chinese and technology stocks since then, that number is likely higher today. Still, using that figure and Naspers' 41.3% ownership of those assets, Naspers' share of Prosus' asset base comes to about $42.75 billion today. Yet Naspers' market cap after the share swap is just $33.4 billion as of this writing. That essentially means in buying Naspers, you are getting all of Tencent's investments and Prosus' non-Tencent investments at a discount – as well as Tencent's amazing core businesses for nothing. Last year, Tencent's core businesses earned over $19.2 billion in net income outside of its investments. Prosus' stake would amount to over $5.5 billion, and Naspers' look-through share would equate to about $2.3 billion. So another way to think about Naspers' valuation is that you are buying Tencent's core business for 14.5 times 2020 earnings, and then getting all Tencent's and Prosus' other investments for free. What will the future hold? Of course, it's entirely possible Naspers and Prosus will trade at such a discount for a long-time. The discount could even widen; after all, I really didn't think the discount would ever get this large to begin with. However, over the long run -- however long that is -- eventually, that intrinsic value will find its way to shareholders. That's why Naspers and Prosus looks like extremely compelling long-term investments in an otherwise expensive tech market today. https://www.fool.com/investing/2021...hoo-host&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=article
Platzi raises $60 million in Series B funding led by Prosus The company plans to build the technology Edtech champion in LatAm through continued expansion San Francisco, USA - 6 December 2021 - Platzi, a leading professional education platform in Latin America, has raised $60 million in Series B funding led by Prosus, one of the largest technology investors in the world. Existing investor Foundation Capital co-invested in this round along with YCombinator, 500 Startups, FJ Labs, FundersClub, Hans Tung from GGV and Darian Shirazi from Gradient. Platzi will use the fresh funds to expand its educational offering in Portuguese, English and Spanish, ramp up its offering for businesses and continue building strategic partnerships with tech giants and governments. Founded by Freddy Vega and Christian Van Der Henst, Platzi aims to close the talent gap of technology professionals in Latin America as an effective education platform for lifelong learners, regardless of their background or prior skills. As a pioneer in edtech in Latin America, thousands of companies use Platzi’s platform every day to upskill their workforce, along with more than 2.5 million individual students starting their careers in technology within the Platzi community. The Platzi community is what sets it apart from other education platforms. The learning experience of the company is designed to make students actively engage and participate with teachers and peers, at scale. As a result, students acquire professional skills to build their own companies or land their dream jobs. Platzi students have built more than 40 startups that have raised over $1 million with 20 companies that have received funding from Y Combinator. “Our methodology was created to help students thrive by learning tech skills, soft skills, language training and also enable them to build a network of peers so they can get a job as soon as possible or create their own companies. In addition, we give learners the tools they need, and community elements. In a region of massive inequality and lack of opportunities like Latin America, this is especially important. Every day we see students going from the minimum wage of $300 dollars a month to 10X after studying at Platzi for 12 months,” explained Freddy Vega, Platzi CEO. The Prosus investment is the first for the company in an edtech platform based in Latin America. Since 2016, in vocational training alone, Prosus has built a significant portfolio, with investments in Stack Overflow, Skillsoft, Udemy, GoodHabitz, and Codecademy. “There is a large deficit of tech-focused graduates in Latin America, despite a massive need for corporates to increase their overall technical staff significantly over the next decade. Traditional educational institutions are not equipped to meet the evolving needs of technology students and employers, and Platzi is filling an important gap in the market,” commented Denis Pedreira, Latin America Investments, Prosus. “With most quality online coding courses available only in English, Platzi is disrupting the sector for future LatAm learners offering coding and technical skills courses in Spanish and Portuguese. Already a leader in Spanish-speaking countries, the team’s execution has enabled an impressive footprint across the region and the company is positioned well for future expansion.” Platzi’s track record has been impressive. The company has more than doubled its student base year over year, every year since its founding in 2014. “Our students become lifetime learners and our platform allows students to connect to peers outside their personal networks, change careers, build their startups and find jobs.” Vega continued. The educational content on Platzi is constantly refreshed with new courses added or updated each month. The Platzi platform consists of thousands of courses including Web development, programming, digital marketing, English, cryptocurrencies, soft skills and more. Large Tech companies choose Platzi to teach Spanish speakers about their latest updates. Platzi currently has offices in Mexico City, Bogota and San Francisco with over 200 employees. The company plans to use the new funding to hire across product development, content development and sales. About Platzi Platzi is the largest tech school in the Spanish-speaking world and one of the most important online communities specializing in technology in Latin America. Platzi helps students from all over the world acquire new, in-demand skills and stay up-to-date with the tech industry. The company has served over 2.5 million students from across more than 140 nations to date. In 2014, Platzi was the first company from Latin America to be admitted to Y Combinator. Platzi raises $60 million in Series B funding led by Prosus
San Francisco (December 7, 2021) – The EVERY Company, the leading precision fermentation platform accelerating a global transition to animal-free protein, today announced it has closed $175 million in Series C financing. The round was co-led by new investor, McWin, and existing investor, Rage Capital. Other new and existing investors joined the round including Temasek, Grosvenor’s Wheatsheaf Group, and TO Ventures. Prosus Ventures also contributed to the funding, marking its first investment in synthetic biology. Notably, the Series C round raised by EVERY™ (formerly Clara Foods) was heavily oversubscribed due to a strong investor appetite to fill the growing supply gap for animal-free protein and ingredient solutions. “The global demand for alternative proteins has grown substantially, but the infrastructure needed to produce the necessary ingredients has yet to catch up. EVERY’s platform is a big step towards filling that gap,” said Katrin Burt, Managing Partner of Grosvenor’s Wheatsheaf Group. The Series C round brings EVERY’s total funding to $233 million. EVERY™ will use the capital to scale production, commercialise a robust pipeline of animal-free protein products nationwide, and expand into a broad array of new food applications. EVERY™ will also continue to expand its protein production platform by mining the egg proteome for novel, hyper-functional proteins. “It’s rare for a company to credibly claim to revolutionise a century-old industry. Arturo and the team at EVERY™ are doing just that,” said Gabriel Ruimy, Managing Partner of Rage Capital. “By leveraging precision fermentation technologies, EVERY™ is bringing ingredient synthesis from science fiction to supermarket aisles, starting with egg proteins and enzymes. We look forward to supporting the company in the commercialisation of such exciting innovation in the next years.” EVERY™ has pioneered a disruptive advance in food technology by developing a platform that produces real animal proteins without the use of a single animal. Last year, it launched the world’s first animal-free pepsin with Fortune 500 ingredients company, Ingredion. Most recently, it launched the world’s first animal-free egg protein. In November, EVERY™ made its retail debut by announcing a limited-time partnership with leading national cold-pressed juice brand Pressed to serve the world’s first nature-equivalent animal-free protein smoothie directly to consumers for the first time. “The restaurant industry is one of the early adopters of new food technologies and their introduction to the consumer. Given our deep roots in restaurants and as a prolific investor in the leading alternative protein companies, McWin is uniquely equipped to support EVERY’s ambitious plans to bring its products to menus worldwide,” said Henry McGovern, founder of McWin Food Ecosystem Fund and AmRest, which operates over 2,300 restaurants globally. “Eggs are not only ubiquitous, but they are also incredibly difficult to replace; we see tremendous potential in EVERY’s revolutionary technology.” “There has never been a better time to be a B2B ingredients platform,” said Arturo Elizondo, CEO & founder of The EVERY Company. “As the world’s biggest food companies work to evolve their product offerings into the 21st century by driving for cleaner, kinder, and more sustainable labels, the options available are few and far between. We at EVERY™ are perfectly positioned to enable the world’s largest and smallest food companies to transition to an animal-free future –– without compromises. Now, our major objective is to scale the platform to make good on our promise to bring our proteins to everyone, everywhere. This new injection of capital will allow us to do just that.” Proteins by EVERY™ are distributed globally by Ingredion, a Fortune 500 ingredients solutions company. Those interested in sourcing animal-free proteins or needing a sample for commercial use can contact [email protected] or visit theEVERYcompany.com. https://www.prosus.com/news/the-eve...e-up-of-its-b2b-animal-free-protein-platform/
Boston – December 22, 2021 – Skillsoft (NYSE:SKIL), a global leader in corporate digital learning, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Codecademy, a leading online learning platform for technical skills, for approximately $525 million in cash and stock. Codecademy is an innovative and popular learning platform providing high-demand technical skills to approximately 40 million registered learners in nearly every country worldwide. The platform offers interactive, self-paced courses and hands-on learning in 14 programming languages across multiple domains such as application development, data science, cloud and cybersecurity. In addition, the Codecademy platform can rapidly expand to deliver new skills at scale, making it highly adaptable to the evolving technical needs of learners and their employers. Codecademy, which was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in New York, is led by a proven entrepreneurial team that has built one of the most admired technical skills learning platforms in the industry. “Codecademy will significantly expand Skillsoft’s capabilities in the high-growth Tech & Dev segment,” said Jeffrey R. Tarr, Chief Executive Officer of Skillsoft. “Strategic acquisitions are an important part of our growth strategy. We acquired virtual instructor-led training capabilities with Global Knowledge and coaching with Pluma earlier this year. With the addition of Codecademy’s innovative capabilities, we will create an even more immersive online learning experience. When we combine Skillsoft’s enterprise customer base of more than 12,000 corporate customers and over 46 million learners with Codecademy’s 40 million learners, sophisticated digital marketing capability and influential brand, we expect to unlock significant revenue synergies.” Following the close of the transaction, the Codecademy team will join Skillsoft to help further build out the leading technical skills training solution for learners globally. “Since our founding, Codecademy has been focused on empowering our learners to build inspiring careers in technology,” said Zach Sims, founder and CEO of Codecademy. “We have helped tens of millions of people around the world learn new technology skills. Together with Skillsoft, we will have the opportunity to rapidly increase the size of our content library and scale Codecademy across the millions of learners and thousands of companies – including approximately 75% of the Fortune 1000 – that work with Skillsoft worldwide. With additional resources and opportunities to drive growth, we are excited to embark on this important next chapter.” Strategic Rationale and Benefits Creates a Leading Technology & Developer Offering. Adding Codecademy’s expertise in 14 programming languages across multiple domains to Skillsoft’s existing technical skills offering will create a leader in the high-demand, high-growth Tech & Dev segment. In addition, the capability of the Codecademy platform to rapidly add new programming languages and technical skills at scale will further enhance Skillsoft’s ability to meet the evolving demands of learners worldwide as it helps organisations address the critical technical skills gap. Expands Immersive Platform with New Ways of Learning. Skillsoft has already assembled an expansive set of learning options, including virtual instructor-led training, coaching, micro-videos, audio, books, boot camps, live events, assessments and badges. Together with Codecademy’s interactive, self-paced courses and hands-on learning, Skillsoft will be able to deliver even more immersive experiences through its AI-driven platform, Percipio. Creates Substantial Cross-Selling and Upselling Opportunities by Adding a Strong Brand and Powerful Digital Sales and Marketing Engine to Global Enterprise Sales Force. The acquisition will bring together Codecademy’s sophisticated direct-to-learner digital sales and marketing engine and Skillsoft’s enterprise sales organisation, creating new opportunities to upsell and cross-sell across each company’s customer base, which is expected to drive customer growth and revenue synergies. Expected to Be Significantly Accretive to Bookings and Revenue Growth Immediately Upon Closing. Codecademy is expected to deliver approximately $47 million in bookings and approximately $42 million in revenue for the calendar year ended December 31, 2021, up 23% and 31%, respectively, over the prior year. Codecademy is entirely a SaaS business and is expected to deliver gross margins of more than 85% in 2021 and be accretive to Skillsoft’s gross margin immediately upon closing. Codecademy is investing to fuel growth and, accordingly, is expected to generate a negative EBITDA of approximately $20 million in 2021. Skillsoft expects it will accelerate Codecademy’s growth in its first year of ownership and that the acquisition will be accretive to EBITDA over the long term. Transaction Details Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies, Codecademy shareholders will receive total consideration of approximately $525 million. The consideration for the transaction is approximately 40% cash and 60% equity. In connection with the transaction, Skillsoft has secured committed financing from Barclays and Citigroup. The Company expects Pro-forma net leverage at closing to be approximately 4x, consistent with Skillsoft’s previous statements regarding leverage following a transformative acquisition. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022, subject to approval by Skillsoft shareholders, the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and the receipt of regulatory approvals, including the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. Fiscal Year 2023 Outlook Skillsoft reiterates its full-year fiscal 2022 outlook provided on December 14, 2021, with bookings in the range of $700 million to $720 million; adjusted revenue in the range of $685 million to $700 million; and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $165 million. The Company will provide a fiscal 2023 outlook, pro forma for the acquisition when it reports its fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results. https://www.prosus.com/news/skillso...e-community-of-more-than-85-million-learners/
Tencent Holdings Ltd. plans to distribute more than $16 billion of JD.com Inc. shares as a one-time dividend, a surprise retreat from the Chinese e-commerce firm after Beijing moved to curtail the power of tech monopolies. The unexpected move to divest most of its stake in China’s No. 2 online retailer comes as Beijing punishes the country’s tech giants for anti-competitive behavior, including maintaining closed ecosystems that favor certain companies at the expense of others. Tencent’s handout may buy goodwill with the government, which has pushed for the dismantling of barriers and for tech firms to share the wealth. As part of the deal, Tencent President Martin Lau will exit JD’s board effective Thursday. The payout stirred speculation that Tencent may be preparing to pare its holdings in a plethora of companies, including some of China’s biggest tech names, as it pivots to focus on overseas growth and new arenas such as the metaverse. JD is just one of several Tencent-backed firms -- including Pinduoduo Inc., ride-sharing giant Didi Global Inc. and food delivery giant Meituan -- that have come to dominate their respective spheres, thanks in part to the enormous traffic generated by WeChat’s billion-plus users. Tencent surged 4.2%, while shares of JD dropped 7% as of the Thursday close in Hong Kong. Still, the sizable JD stock sale may prove to be a one-off move for Tencent, which has been struggling to reassure its shareholders after a turbulent year. A person familiar with Tencent’s management said they have evaluated its portfolio and have no intention of paring down or exiting other investments -- such as Meituan and Kuaishou Technology -- in the coming months. Meituan closed 1.7% lower, paring early losses, while those of Kuaishou and fellow Tencent investee Bilibili Inc. ended near their lows for the day. “The divestment shouldn’t come as a complete surprise and could be read as a reaction to anti-monopoly investigations -- it’s pretty clear that regulators don’t want to see too much ‘faction-like’ patterns in big tech,” said Chen Da, executive director at HHSC Assets (HK). “It’s likely that it will be read as the start of breaking up the huddle a bit.” Tencent’s JD.com Dividend Result of China Crackdown: Street Wrap Tencent plans to give out 457.3 million Class A shares in JD, representing about 86.4% of its total stake and nearly 15% of the online retailer’s total issued shares, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. At Wednesday’s close, the shares in the proposed distribution were worth HK$127.7 billion ($16.4 billion). Tencent, which controls about 17% of JD, will hold roughly 2.3% of the e-commerce company’s shares after the handout, JD said in a separate statement. The special dividend would rank among the largest shareholder giveaways ever by a Chinese tech company, which have long relied on rapid growth and investment to satisfy investors. Tencent’s strategy is to take stakes in companies during their development stage and to exit the investments as they become capable of financing future initiatives on their own, the internet giant said. “The Board believes that JD.com has now reached such a status, and the Board therefore considers that it is an appropriate time to transfer” the majority of the shares to its investors, the company said. The proposed dividend comes after Chinese tech shares have been battered by more than a year of intense regulatory scrutiny. The crackdown, which has spanned antitrust to after-school education, gaming and online content, has slowed growth at internet firms from Tencent to Meituan and fierce rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., forcing the companies to invest heavily in new earnings drivers. Xi Jinping’s call to achieve “common prosperity” and level income inequality has also prompted the firms and the moguls behind them to make public pledges to philanthropic efforts. Tencent has already announced it’s setting aside $15.7 billion for social responsibility programs. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tencent-distribute-nearly-jd-com-001714908.html
