Quikr

Quikr
Private
Industry Internet
Founded 2008 [1]
Founder Pranay Chulet [2] and Jiby Thomas [3]
Headquarters Bangalore [1], India
Number of locations
 India
Area served
 India
Key people
 Pranay Chulet (Co-founder & CEO)
Services Classified advertising
Website www.quikr.com

Quikr is an Indian classified advertising platform. It was founded by Pranay Chulet and Jiby Thomas in 2008,[2][3] and as of 2013 reported 12 million listings.[4] Headquartered in Bengaluru, Quikr has a listings in over 1,000 cities in India in categories such as mobile phones, household goods, cars, real estate, jobs, services and education.[4]

History

Quikr was initially launched as Kijiji India in November 2005.[5] Kijiji.in was owned by Kijiji International, an eBay Inc subsidiary.

In 2008, Mumbai based venture capitalist, Matrix Partners India, invested in the Kijiji India, following which Kijiji India was hived off Kijiji International and restructured as an independent company and re-branded as "Quikr", which was jointly owned by Matrix Partners and eBay Inc.[6][7]

In January 2016, Quikr announced it had acquired the real estate portal commonfloor.com in a $200 million all-stock deal and will be merging it with its real estate division QuikrHomes. [8][9]

Finance

Quikr is backed by Kinnevik, Matrix Partners India, Omidyar Network, Norwest Venture Partners, Nokia Growth Partners, Warburg Pincus and eBay Inc.[1]

In 2009, Quikr raised ₹20 crore.[10] In 2014, Quikr raised about $150 million,[11] of which it raised a $60 million[12][13] investment in a round led by Tiger Global with participation from several existing investors and raised $90 million[14] in investment in a round led by Kinnevik.[15][16] As of 2014, Quikr had raised a total of $350 million from 7 funding rounds.[17]

Features

Quikr provides an online classified advertising platform for users to buy or sell goods and services from each other. Other services offered include a missed call service,[18] and instant messaging.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "About Quikr". Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  2. 1 2 "Meet Quikr CEO Pranay Chulet, IIT-IIM alumnus, who built India's largest online classifieds co". timesofindia-economictimes. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  3. 1 2 "Quikr co-founder Jiby Thomas quits company to start new internet venture". Techcircle.in. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  4. 1 2 "Property, gadgets, automobiles and jobs most popular on Quikr". Digit.in. 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  5. ↑ "eBay Inc. & Matrix Partners India Announce New Partnership - Kijiji India to be jointly owned by eBay & Matrix Partners". Ebay (Press release). Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  6. ↑ "Classifieds website Kijiji India is now Quikr.com". Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  7. ↑ "Matrix Partners › Press Room › Classifieds website Kijiji India is now Quikr.com". Matrix partners. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  8. ↑ "Quikr acquires CommonFloor!". Commonfloor Blog.
  9. ↑ "Quikr buys CommonFloor in $200-mn all-stock deal". 2016-01-08. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  10. ↑ Chanchani, Madhav A (2009-07-30). "Quikr Raises Rs 20 Cr In Series-B From Omidyar, Matrix India". VCCircle. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
  11. ↑ "Quikr raises Rs 550 crore from group of investors led by Swedish investment company Kinnevik". The Economic Times. 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  12. ↑ "Quikr founder shows how to take an old idea and make it new". Business Standard. 2014-03-14. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  13. ↑ "Online ads firm Quikr raises Rs 548 crore from foreign investors". The Times Of India. 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  14. ↑ "Quikr raises $90 million". The Hindu. 2014-03-13. Archived from the original on June 24, 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  15. ↑ "Quikr.com raises Rs. 548 cr in private equity". The Hindu Business Line. 2014-03-12. Archived from the original on June 16, 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  16. ↑ "Swedish firm Kinnevik to invest in Quikr". The Economic Times. 2014-03-11. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  17. ↑ "Why investors are betting big on Indian e-commerce firms". Mint. 2014-03-13. Archived from the original on May 15, 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
  18. ↑ "The business savvy of a "missed call"". Archived from the original on May 16, 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "Quikr launches chat service to boost sales". The Economic Times. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
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