Dutch tech investor Prosus scales up India AI play amid global headwinds

Dutch investor Prosus backs Arivihan, CodeKarma, and Deccan AI in quick succession, calling AI a central pillar of its India strategy as it plans multi-billion-dollar bets

Even as some sectors feel the heat of global economic headwinds, Dutch technology investor Prosus is accelerating its artificial intelligence (AI) investments in India, betting on a new wave of AI-powered startups that it expects will drive the next phase of growth in one of the world’s largest digital markets. 

The Netherlands-based firm, which has invested nearly $9 billion over the years in India across companies like food-delivery giant Swiggy and e-commerce platform Meesho, has made three AI investments in four months — including education platform Arivihan and developer tool CodeKarma — as it positions AI as a “central pillar” of its Indian strategy. 

“What we are noticing on the ground is an entirely different wave of technology dissipating, and that is sort of immune to macroeconomic cycles. This is very similar to how mobile or Cloud computing dissipated across the economy,” Dhruv Gupta, Investor, Prosus India told Business Standard. “We are speaking to AI companies almost every day, and these are across B2B (business-to-business), B2C (business-to-consumer), consumer, SaaS, etc.”

 

The investment spree began in May with Deccan AI, a startup that provides high-quality data for AI model training and evaluations supporting companies like Google and Snowflake through a 500,000-plus freelancer network. In July, Prosus backed Arivihan, an AI-driven tutoring platform from Indore, offering affordable coaching for school students, with a focus on tier-II and tier-III cities. The investment firm led the $4.2 million pre-Series A round alongside Accel. Most recently, CodeKarma, a Bengaluru-based developer-productivity tool, raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed round from Prosus and Accel.   

With 500 million internet users, and diverse languages, India presents unique opportunities. Gupta said many founders are now building AI companies for global markets from the outset. 

The democratisation of large language models (LLMs) has lowered barriers, enabling faster innovation across sectors like e-commerce, travel, and software development, Gupta said. He did not reveal target AI allocation but said: “We continue to remain very bullish. In terms of our activity, it looks like it will remain pretty high for next year.” 

India’s unique market dynamics create distinct opportunities, he said, pointing to sectors like education and health care that require localised solutions different from US markets. “I believe there is a strong opportunity here, regardless of what’s happening in Silicon Valley,” said Gupta. 

Highlighting Arivihan’s example, he said the team’s ability to localise—such as training models in “Hinglish,” a Hindi-English mix—stood out, alongside strong early-user growth.

 

While Gupta acknowledged it was too early for unit economics assessment, he pointed to sharply declining LLM costs. Citing success stories like Meesho and Rapido, he noted that companies targeting price-sensitive segments can build profitable models—so long as they solve real, deeply rooted problems with strong execution.

 

“There’s a willingness to pay for quality solutions, even in smaller cities,” Gupta said. “If Arivihan continues delivering, monetisation will follow.”

 

At a time when there is competition from Tiger Global, Peak XV , and Accel for AI deals in India, Prosus claims its competitive advantage is investing from its balance sheet, offering founders patient capital and flexibility without the pressure of fund cycles.

 

The firm also leverages Prosus’ in-house AI expertise, anchored by a dedicated team in Amsterdam that supports its global portfolio. “Our operating companies, especially in e-commerce, benefit from practical AI deployment experience,” Gupta said.

 

Prosus uses its international footprint to help founders tap cross-market insights and networks. For instance, CodeKarma could leverage Prosus’ presence in Latin America and eastern Europe, while successful models from those regions can inform new opportunities in India. Companies such as Deccan AI may also benefit directly from internal AI needs of Prosus, further deepening the partnership potential.

 

Gupta said India’s regulatory environment for AI remains favourable, with government support playing a pivotal role in encouraging innovation and investment.

 

“I think the regulatory regime has so far been very favourable,” Gupta said. “The government has also taken proactive steps, whether it is formalising funds for deep tech startups or having a semiconductor fund or having a vision for its own sovereign AI, which includes compute, GPU access, etc.”

 

The AI push aligns with broader ambitions. During his India visit in May, Fabricio Bloisi, group CEO of Prosus, had said that the firm plans to grow the value of its India portfolio fivefold to $50 billion in the coming years, backed by a few billion dollars in fresh investments. The strategy centres on deepening its presence in core sectors and scaling its ecosystem-focused approach.

 

“My intention is to invest a few billion dollars more in India,” Bloisi told Business Standard during a media roundtable.

 

Over the past year, Bloisi has pushed Prosus to operate more like a tech company. He sees AI as a transformative force, calling it “as important as the Industrial Revolution”, with the potential to fundamentally change how companies operate.