Naspers has notched up another blockbuster Indian stock market debut as online marketplace Meesho started trading on the open market,with its stake in the online shopping giant now valued at almost R16.5bn.
The listing marks the fourth initial public offering (IPO) of a company in the Naspers portfolio under CEO Fabricio Bloisi, though the group retained its stake of just over 11% in the Indian venture.
On Wednesday, the company was listed on the National Stock Exchange of India, and at 3.59pm Indian time the shares had soared just over 53% from their issue price to 170.09 rupees apiece.
In early trade, the shares were up as much as 58%, valuing the company at 789.3-billion rupees (about $8.78bn).
Founded by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in 2015, Meesho is India’s largest social commerce platform that allows “social sellers” the ability to sell within their social networks on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. The company also provides logistics and payment tools on the platform.
The platform has a network of 200-million annual transacting users and more than 1-million suppliers across 700 districts in India. The platform has more than 120-million listings, 74,000 delivery agents and more than 28,000 content creators.
The company’s AI models analyse consumer signals to generate personalised product recommendations, while algorithms process millions of listings to curate results based on price, quality and location preferences, and also optimise fulfilment.
The Naspers stable is making good on its promise to unlock value from its sprawling global e-commerce portfolio. Earlier this year, Urban Company and BlueStone were listed in India, while Swiggy made its debut in November 2024.
Naspers, through its international unit Prosus, first invested in Meesho in 2019 and invested in each of four subsequent funding rounds. The group’s 11.2% in the company is now valued at $968m (R16.45bn).
Saurav Jain of Prosus’s India investments team says there are a number of trends that will continue to push the growth of online marketplaces in India.
“There are multiple behavioural shifts that India is seeing at this point. For example, there are the next billion users that will be coming online and starting to transact via digital marketplaces,” Jain told Business Day.
He noted an increase in consumers from the Gen Z and Gen Alpha generations who are coming online.
“Their needs are very different. And in parallel, what’s also happening is the economy is growing. We are seeing an increase in GDP per capita. Currently, it’s around $2,500 and it’s expected to grow to around $4,000 in the next few years.”
“There is a lot of increment ... all of that incremental GDP per capita would mostly go into disposable income. Marketplaces like Meesho will be beneficiaries of that.”
Update: December 10 2025
This story contains additional information about Meesho and the latest share price
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