Jiji Acquires Cars45 To Consolidate Its Position As Africa’s Leading Classified Marketplace
June 30, 2021, 1:24 p.m.
Africa’s largest online marketplace Jiji has acquired Cars45 for an undisclosed amount as part of its plan to explore a different business.
Jiji is the biggest free online marketplace with an advanced security system providing simple hassle-free solutions to individuals to sell and buy almost anything. The company has been known to operate as a classified model since its launch in 2014, but now wants to explore a different business that has brought immense profit to the company.
Cars45, on the other hand, is an online marketplace for people to buy, sell or swap used cars.
Jiji’s acquisition will enable cars45 to scale up its vehicle category. Cars45 will also merge its operations in Nigeria (primary market), Ghana, and Kenya to boost efficiency. This will give Jiji the chance to consolidate its position as Africa’s leader of the classifieds marketplace and maintain brand trust.
This is not the first time Jiji has done business with Cars45 parent company, OLX. In 2019, OLX, the Naspers-owned online marketplace, sold its assets in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to the seven-year-old classifieds player. As a result, Jiji now commands 10 million unique monthly visits and three million active listings, according to the company stats.
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Yet for another time, Cars45 has been under different ownership in recent years. In 2020, OLX Group, via its OLX Autos brand, acquired Cars45 from Berlin-based company, Frontier Car Group (FCG). FCG took ownership in 2017 when Cars45 raised $5 million from the former, making it the largest shareholder and parent company.
Speaking on the reason for the deal, Jiji’s co-founder and board member Vladimir Mnogoletniy explained that it was looking for opportunities outside the classified model that it has become known for.
“In terms of classifieds, we’re looking at opportunities but we are already a leader in Africa, so I think there’s very limited space for whom to acquire. However, we’re primarily interested in deals like Cars45, where we bring our leadership positions from classifieds and acquire very close business models that give us exposure to the transactional marketplace. So for us, a major interest will be to acquire adjacent business models.”
He also mentioned that vehicle listing is the second most popular category on Jiji. He claims the category has over $3 billion worth of listings out of the platform’s total listing exceeding $10 billion (real estate commands almost $7 billion).
tag: Nigeria, partnerships, Startup,
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Verny loves to write poetry, fiction and quotes. Her love for writing landed her in journalism. She loves gadgets and travelling to explore new places.