Online classifieds marketplace Quikr raises $60 million from Tiger Global and others
Within six months of raising a $90 million round, online classifieds marketplace Quikr has announced a $60 million fresh funding round led by Tiger Global Management along with existing investors Kinnevik, Matrix Partners India, Nokia Growth Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Omidyar Network, Warburg Pincus and eBay Inc.
The new funding will be used by the company to invest in product development as well as further expansion of its fast growing mobile business. In March, earlier this year, the company had raised a $90 million funding round from a group of investors led by Swedish investment firm Kinnevik.
“The explosive growth in mobile Internet is fundamentally reshaping the Indian classifieds Internet market, and we are well positioned to be at the forefront of this growth,” said Pranay Chulet, Founder and CEO of Quikr. “This funding round is a powerful validation of our local knowledge and connections, skilled execution and quality management team. We are excited to welcome Tiger Global to Quikr as we continue to further grow our platform”.
Quikr is a large-scale, cross-category online classifieds business with more than 30 million monthly customers and small business users in 940 cities. Its consumer base primarily comes to Quikr to sell, buy, rent or find products and services across categories such as electronics and household goods, real estate, cars, bikes and employment, among others.
“Quikr has grown rapidly to become one of India’s major classifieds players with a deep understanding of the local market,” said Lee Fixel, Partner at Tiger Global Management. “By leveraging the company’s strengths as a local player, Quikr has seized a tremendous opportunity in a rapidly growing market. We look forward to supporting the Quikr team,” he added.
Founded by Pranay Chulet and Jiby Thomas in 2008, Quikr competes with Argentina-based OLX, and both have been marketing heavily via all channels to acquire more users. In February this year the company had launched a new campaign around the concept of Maximum Selling Price (MSP).