Quikr.com, India’s leading classifies web site & a platform to sell, buy, rent or find something, has seen fresh round of funding lead by Warburg Pincus along with its existing investors. The present round of funding is $32 million in fresh funds and has participation from eBay Inc., Matrix Partners, and Norwest Venture partners. The company already has investments from Matrix Partners India , Omidyar Network , Norwest Venture Partners , Nokia Growth Partners ,Warburg Pincus and eBay Inc.
Quikr.com, had started as an online free classifieds website Kijiji India – (www.kijiji.in) , a part of Kijiji Network – a wholly owned subsidiary of E Bay. Post its first round of funding in early 2008 by Matrix Partners, the company got re-branded in a new avatar – ‘Quikr’ (www.quikr.com) in Mid 2008.
The company has earlier seen the following rounds of funding:
Feb 2008 – Funding by Matrix Partners, leading to rebranding as Quikr.com
July 2009 – $ 4-5 Million from Matrix India, Omidyar Network.
March 2010 – $ 6 Million led by Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Omidyar Network, Matrix Partners India , eBay Inc.
May 2011 – $ 8 Million from Nokia Growth Partners
Press Release on the Funding
Mumbai, Maharashtra, May 22, 2012 /India PRwire/ — Quikr, the internet and mobile based classifieds leader, today announced that its parent company has attracted an investment of US$32 million led by Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. Existing investors Matrix Partners India, Norwest Venture Partners and eBay Inc. also participated in this round of fund raising, which is the fifth and the largest round of capital raised.
Quikr is India’s largest horizontal classifieds platform with 17 million unique individuals and small businesses using it across 83 cities every month. These individuals and businesses access Quikr to sell, buy, rent or find products and services in a variety of categories such as electronics, cars, bikes, real estate, services, jobs, education and entertainment. Existing investors include Nokia Growth Partners and Omidyar Network, apart from those mentioned above.
Commenting on the development, Pranay Chulet, Co-Founder and CEO, Quikr said, "In the initial rounds of fund raising, we have already attracted some of the best investors across the globe. We are delighted to have a strategic partner like Warburg Pincus as we continue our journey forward. 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."
Nitin Nayar, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus India Private Limited said, "We were impressed by the dynamism and the vision of Quikr’s management team to further build on Quikr’s leadership position as an innovative online marketplace. Globally, Warburg Pincus has been a leading investor in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sectors for more than 25 years. We look forward to working closely with the management team to build on the company’s success and accelerate its growth plans."
The next decade is poised to present tremendous growth opportunities in the internet sector in India, supported by a growing number of internet users, increasing income levels and a young population. As a dominant player that’s initiating mass market India into e-commerce through its easy to use classifieds format, Quikr is well positioned to capture a large share of this opportunity.
– News Desk