Carousell, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing classifieds marketplaces, announced that it has received an investment from Naspers, one of the largest technology investors in the world, through its classifieds business arm, OLX Group.
The deal will also see Carousell acquire OLX Philippines, with the mutual goal of serving the Filipino community to buy and sell online with greater ease and flexibility. The total deal value is worth US$56 million and gives OLX Group an approximate 10 percent stake in Carousell.
The investment from Naspers values Carousell at over $550 million and is a testament to Carousell’s ability to develop world-class online classifieds marketplace solutions in Southeast Asia.
To date, Carousell registers the highest engagement rate and time spent across all online marketplace players.
In addition, Carousell’s advancement in product and innovative technology, coupled with OLX Philippines’ local experience in managing online classifieds will deliver a seamless user experience on the platform.
The marketplace has quadrupled in volume globally since inception, featuring more than 196 million listings and 71 million items sold to date.
In the past 24 months, Carousell achieved successes in the integration of artificial intelligence into its platform with the launch of predictive features like smart listings, personalized browsing, chatting experiences and, recently, price suggestion function.
The past year also saw Carousell expand its marketplace offerings in Singapore with high-value categories such as cars, property, jobs, services and finance.
“It’s our mission to inspire every person in the world to start selling and buying. This means creating the best selling and buying experience for our users. With the acquisition, more value will be brought to sellers and buyers together in a vibrant marketplace that creates even more possibilities for the community,” shares Quek Siu Rui, co-founder and chief executive officer of Carousell.
OLX Philippines, part of OLX Group, has 13 years of expertise in the online classifieds space. The company is currently the largest online classifieds site in the country, with more than 6 million monthly unique users.
“Naspers’ investment will enable us to accelerate the cementing of our leadership in Southeast Asia and our pace of innovation. We will continue deepening our expertise in technology and AI to bring greater value, trust and convenience to our users. We are grateful for the strong support from our new and existing investors, and their conviction in our capabilities, passion for the mission and product vision” Rui said.
“We are excited to increase our presence in Asia via a fast-growing company such as Carousell, which has deep knowledge across the region. We look forward to learning from them and sharing our own experience of operating in high-growth markets across five continents,” Rui added.
“Together, we believe we can offer the very best classifieds experience to the local market," said Martin Scheepbouwer, chief executive officer for the OLX Group.
Carousell will integrate OLX's operations and subsidiaries in the Philippines, with integration work happening in stages over the course of the year. The integration is expected to be fully completed in the second half of 2019.
Raffy Montemayor, general manager of OLX Philippines, will manage Carousell’s operations in the market and will lead the transition of its customers to the new platform.