Bengaluru-based Classifieds Portal Quikr In Talks To Raise $150 Mn

Bengaluru-based online classifieds and services portal Quikr India Pvt Ltd is reportedly in talks to raise between $100 Mn and $150 Mn by keeping its record valuation of $1 Bn.

If the company successfully manages to raise funds sustaining its $1Bn valuation, it would mark a turning point for the company, which at one stage wished to become Craiglist of India which is a popular online classifieds site in the US.

The platform plans to raise the fresh funds from both existing and new investors.

To be noted, the speculations around Quikr fund raise has come at a time when South Africa-based Internet and media company Naspers has announced to continue its investment in startups that are operating in the food delivery, classifieds, and fintech segments in India.

Quikr was founded in 2008 by  Pranay Chulet. It is a free classified and online marketplace that helps users sell, buy, rent, or discover anything across India. The platform is active in 1,000 cities in India and operates across 14 classifieds businesses including mobile phones, household goods, cars, real estate, jobs, services and education.

Quikr: Aiming To Grow ‘Quicker’

According to a report, so far the company has almost raised around $430 Mn from over 10 rounds. The company has enlisted investors such as Warburg Pincus, Tiger Global, Norwest Venture Partners Brand Capital and Omidyar Networks, among others. The latest funding had come from a Debt Financing round on  Aug 18, 2016.

The company had reached a total valuation of  $1.47 Bn in 2016 after raising an amount of $150 Mn in a Series H round in April 2015 from Kinnevik, Tiger Global and Steadview Capital.

As in the current year, the fair value of Kinnevik’s 17% shareholding in Quikr was marked at $160 Mn (SEK 1,426 Mn) as at March 31, 2018, based on a total value of Quikr’s fully diluted equity of $993 Mn. However, the fair value of its holding has been marked at about $178 Mn for the period ending June 30, 2018, implying that Quikr’s current valuation stands at about $1.03 Bn.

Here are a few more updates around the company:

• Has acquired 13 startups including Babajob, Hiree, HDFC Developers, ZapLuk, Zimmber, Reality Compass, among others. At present, the acquired startups account for up to 55% of Quikr’s overall revenues
• In August 2018, Quikr claimed that its real estate vertical had tripled its revenue in the last 12 months and is expecting to grow more than 100% within a year
• In Aril 2018, Inc42 reported that the Swedish investor Kinnevik AB had marked down the valuation of the platform by 12% to $884.94 Mn for the period ending December 2017, in its annual report 2017

Quikr currently competes with other major players such as 99acres.com, Housing.com, Proptiger.com, Square Yards, OLX, oodle, OfferUp and Clickin among others. In March 2018, OLX had announced that a growth of 50% in the number of buyers in the pre-owned cars category in 2017 and had also claimed of having 40 Mn active monthly users.

With the latest fund infusion, Quikr will certainly be aiming at claiming a dominant positioning in the online classifieds and services segment.

[The development was reported by Livemint]

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