Prosus invests $100M in housing finance firm Vastu

Prosus acquired an 8.4% effective stake in Vastu Housing Finance Corp Ltd for approximately $100 million in October 2024.

In a statement, the company said, "In October 2024, the group acquired an 8.4% effective (7.8% fully diluted) interest for approximately $100 million in Vastu Housing Financing Corporate Limited (Vastu). Vastu is a housing finance company in India."

"The group will account for this investment as an equity-accounted associate on account of its significant influence on the board of directors," the statement added.

In July, Vastu had raised an undisclosed round from global private equity firm TA.

Prior to that, it had raised $30 million in a secondary sale with funds managed by Multiples Alternate Asset Management Pvt Ltd and other company shareholders. The shares were acquired by Mumbai-based private equity fund Faering Capital.

Vastu Housing Finance was founded in 2015 by Sandeep Menon and Sujay Patil. Over the years, Vastu has expanded its operations, establishing over 230 branches across 13 states in India.

Prosus also acquired a 10.65% stake in supply chain finance fintech Mintifi in October for about $80 million.

"In October 2024, the group acquired a 10.65% effective interest in Mintifi Private Limited (Mintifi) for approximately $79.9 million. Mintifi is a leading supply chain finance fintech in India. The group will account for this investment as an equity-accounted associate on account of its significant influence on the board of directors," the company said in a statement.

Prosus-owned PayU India notched a 12% year-on-year (YoY) revenue growth in H1 FY25, driven by increased payment volumes and merchant onboarding.

The payments and fintech business, which operates as a payment service provider (PSP) working with over 5 lakh businesses, earned $237 million in revenue in H1, benefitting from an in-principle approval from the RBI earlier this year to operate as a payment aggregator.

This growth was supported by a 25% YoY increase in total payment volume (27% in local currency), driven by financial services, government, and ecommerce sectors.