Euro Beinat, chief AI officer at Prosus. (Image supplied)
Naspers unit Prosus has revamped its senior technology leadership, appointing a chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer, chief technology officer (CTO) and chief product officer, as the technology investor steps up its focus on AI and product development.
In a statement today, the company says Euro Beinat has been appointed as chief AI officer, Paul van der Boor has moved from vice-president of AI to CTO, while entrepreneur and investor Ronald Hans (commonly referred to as Nalden), founder of WeTransfer and Boomerang, joins Prosus as chief product officer.
The three executives will lead Prosus’s AI strategy and product development, with a focus on using AI to support growth across its portfolio and extended ecosystem of partners and small and medium businesses.
Prosus says its businesses, including iFood, OLX and PayU, have accumulated data from customer interactions over several years. It notes this work has resulted in an intelligence layer based on the commerce behaviour of about one billion customers.
According to the firm, the new leadership team will be tasked with turning this technology and data into products for customers and partners across the Prosus ecosystem.
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Fabricio Bloisi, CEO of Prosus, says: “With this team, we plug the best product leadership in Europe into one of the biggest commerce data sets in the world. I want Prosus to ship like a start-up and learn like a platform, 10 times faster.”
Beinat joined Prosus in 2018 and has built its AI team and systems, says the firm, adding that in his new role, he will focus on developing what Prosus describes as an ‘AI lab’ in Europe.
“Prosus has built some of the most robust AI systems in Europe. We have developed AI technologies, science and tools that support millions of users globally. Our intelligence learns from real commerce, from how people actually buy, sell and run businesses,” says Beinat.
“That’s a different kind of AI and gives us a huge opportunity to leverage our internal research and data analysis in support of our ecosystems and their customers. Prosus is entering a new era − a chance for the best people in the field to work on problems they won’t find anywhere else.”
Van der Boor has worked across Prosus’s operations in Europe, Brazil and India, and moves into the CTO role after serving as VP of AI.
Paul van der Boor, CTO at Prosus. (Image supplied)
“I couldn’t be more excited to be working alongside Euro and Nalden, during what is certainly the most interesting time in history to be a builder. Prosus has something rare: one billion people across Latin America, India and Europe using our products and services,” he says.
“My ambition is to build incredible products that are still creating value for people more than a decade from now. Every new wave of technology creates a new generation of companies shaping the future. We are making Prosus one of them.”
Nalden co-founded WeTransfer in 2009 and joins Prosus as chief product officer. He has also founded and invested in technology businesses across Europe.
“I care about the customer – the moment they first use the product through to when they put it down at the end of the day. Prosus has everything a builder could want at a scale that gives us endless opportunity. My approach stays the same as it was at WeTransfer and at Boomerang: people should recommend a product not because it is useful, but because it becomes impossible not to.”
