Prosus N.V., the global consumer internet group, has signed a multi-year cloud and artificial intelligence agreement with Amazon Web Services that will consolidate contracts across its businesses and deliver double-digit cost savings, the group said.
The three-year deal runs into the “hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to Igor Cardoso, head of the Prosus Ecosystem, who declined to give a precise figure.
The agreement brings together cloud computing and AI services under a single framework, a move Prosus expects will lower operating costs and simplify how its companies buy and deploy technology.
Prosus focuses on AI-led expansion
Under Chief Executive Officer Fabricio Bloisi, Prosus is reshaping its portfolio around Europe, India and Latin America. The company is building shared AI tools it says will help speed up product development and support growth across those regions.
“The strategy is to roll out our large commerce model across Latin America,” Cardoso said, pointing to assets such as Brazilian food delivery company iFood, travel platform Despegar and classifieds business OLX. “We then plan to do this in Europe and, over time, in India.”
While data cannot be shared freely across regions because of regulation and business rules, Prosus is standardising its technology models. That approach, Cardoso said, makes it faster and less costly to launch similar products in new markets.
$100m AI push, AWS-backed
Prosus employs about 1,000 AI specialists who will work alongside Amazon teams to build new applications. The group is spending roughly $100 million a year on AI talent and infrastructure.
“In the past 18 to 24 months, we’ve built and deployed agents across our businesses,” Cardoso said. “Now we are investing in assistants that support daily operations.”
As part of the agreement, Prosus will also rely on Amazon’s data centers and infrastructure in multiple regions.
Prosus spun out of Naspers
Prosus was spun out of Cape Town-based Naspers in 2019. Naspers’ early investment in Tencent Holdings, made in 2001 for $32 million, underpins much of the group’s value today.
Bloisi has pushed to lift profits and scale outside Tencent through acquisitions, including the planned purchase of Just Eat Takeaway.com for about $4.6 billion and Despegar for roughly $1.7 billion, as Prosus seeks steadier returns from its wider portfolio.
