Indian classifieds website Quikr has announced that it has raised $32 million in its fifth funding round led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus in exchange for a stake in the company, the size of which was not specified. Quikr’s existing investors Matrix Partners India, Norwest Venture Partners, and eBay also participated.
As many of you may know, Quikr was once Kijiji India until it rebranded [1] back in June of 2008. It’s very much like a Craigslist-style website, allowing users to buy and sell things, or offer or find services online in a wide range of categories. It has grown to have 17 million people and businesses using it in 83 cities every month. The service earns revenue by charging for premium services as well as advertising.
The co-founder and CEO of Quikr, Pranay Chulet, commented on how these new funds will be put to use:
The current round, which is our largest to date, will enable us to diversify our
offerings across both online and mobile platforms, intensify our product development efforts and further strengthen our marketing capabilities.
Presently the market for e-commerce in India stands at only about $10 billion, but with more and more people coming online, the market should grow in proportion to the nations internet infrastructure, especially as more and more people in rural areas come onto the web.
For more information on Quikr, check out their recent promotional video below.
[Warburg Pincus via Techcrunch]
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From Matrix Partners, ‘Classifieds website Kijiji India is now Quikr.com’ (pdf) ↩
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