Online Classifieds Portal, Quikr, Close To Join The Billion Dollar Club With New $60 Mn Round

Mumbai-based online classifieds portal Quikr has completed a new $60 Mn secondary round of funding led by its existing investor, AB Kinnevik along with the new investors including Falcon Edge Capital and Coatue Management.

With this round, the company is said to be valued at about $900 Mn, coming close to the billion dollar club of Indian companies, which already includes Flipkart, Snapdeal, Ola, Paytm, In Mobi and Mu Sigma.

Besides, the Swedish investment firm Kinnevik has become the largest investor in the portal by securing 18% stake, after it purchased stakes worth $20 Mn.  With this, some of Quikr’s early investors including Matrix Partners India, Omidyar Network and Nokia Growth Partners have made partial exits from the company.

In its filing to Stockholm stock exchange Kinnevik said, “The purchase is consistent with Kinnevik’s goal of owning more of its highest potential companies and reflects the continued progress of Quikr in what remains an exciting market.

The deal has been reported by a regulatory filing made on the Stockholm stock exchange.

Founded in 2008 by Pranay Chulet, Quikr was formed as a spinout from online marketplace, eBay’s, India operations. The company provides the local community with a platform to help them buy, sell, rent and find something and address needs across more than 12 categories and 140 sub categories including mobiles, real estate, cars, services, jobs, entertainment, furniture, electronics etc.

The company has raised $350 Mn till date from a slew of investors including Omidyar Network, Norwest Venture Partners, Nokia Growth Partners, Tiger Global Management, Warburg Pincus and Kinnevik. In the current year, Quikr has secured $150 Mn funding from Tiger Global Management, Investment AB Kinnevik, and Steadview Capital.

Quick facts:

• Claims to have 30 million unique users every month
• 250,000 listing every day on the platform
• Operational in more than 12 categories and 140 sub categories
• Currently present in more than 900 cities across India

Recently, the company has been seen expanding in key categories and mobile businesses. Quikr came up with instant messenger Quikr Nxt to enable seamless transactions between users by allowing instant chats. The portal also launched dedicated vertical for jobs’ search and plans to follow the same for real estate and used car search.

Quikr competes directly with other classifieds players such as Olx and other vertical classified players which focus on segments like jobs, realty and automobiles.

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