Martin Tschopp was appointed chief executive of Prosus Ventures – Amsterdam-listed consumer internet group Prosus’s corporate venture capital arm, and formerly known as Naspers Ventures – in November 2020 after nearly four years as a COO at the unit.
Talking to Global Corporate Venturing in 2021, Tschopp said: “The company has built a strong, global footprint and in the year ahead and beyond, Prosus Ventures will ensure we have a continuous flow of future growth opportunities in the wings.
“The key is that we partner with businesses that are solving big societal needs with technology, in a uniquely local way. We think about where we can really make an impact and zero-in on sectors of the economy where technology can lead to meaningful change in consumer behaviour and economics.”
“The key is that we partner with businesses that are solving big societal needs with technology”
Martin Tschopp
Over the course of the past year, Prosus Ventures has invested in a range of companies. It has taken a role as lead investor on the $11m series A raise for Spendflo, a software-as-a- service buying and optimisation platform, and has participated in the $26m series A round for India-based legal contract process specialist SpotDraft. The latter deal is part of a wider drive to increase the unit’s business-to-business investment activity in the country.
Tschopp has spent the past two decades working in a variety of internet businesses around the world. Immediately prior to Prosus, he was CEO of Kiva.org, a non-profit offering access to capital to under-served communities. Before that, he spent many years as an operator leading ecommerce businesses ranging in size from small classifieds startups to large marketplaces such as eBay Germany.