01/04/2019
Jiji to welcome OLX users in Africa
Jiji – the largest classifieds marketplace in Nigeria – has reached an agreement to redirect OLX users in Nigeria to Jiji and to acquire OLX businesses in four other countries, building a leading pan-African classifieds business
The Netherlands, 1 April:
Jiji and OLX today announced that both companies have reached an agreement under which Jiji will acquire OLX businesses in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, pending certain regulatory approvals, and OLX users in Nigeria will be redirected to Jiji. The transaction is backed by one of Jiji’s cornerstone investors, Digital Spring Ventures.
Joining Jiji’s family will allow OLX users in these countries to benefit from Jiji’s market-leading products and services. OLX’s reach, combined with Jiji’s own proprietary search and delivery algorithms, will create a beneficial combination – giving users a radically streamlined experience and making the buying and selling process more convenient.
Anton Volyansky, CEO and co-founder of Jiji commented: “Users will always come first for us. We warmly welcome OLX’s customers to the Jiji family and we look forward to our new customers joining Jiji on its journey to empower the lives of its customers by providing a safer, more secure and enjoyable online shopping experience”.
Vladimir Mnogoletniy, Board Director and co-founder of Jiji commented: “We believe that this transaction is pivotal for Jiji’s business. We are a long-term investor in Africa and believe in the exceptional opportunities that exist in this amazing continent. With this transaction we plan to build the largest Africa-based classifieds business, creating a new experience for Africa’s fastest-developing countries and their combined population of 300 million. We firmly believe that in the next 2-3 years ours will be one of the top 10 classifieds businesses in the world by traffic.”
Sjoerd Nikkelen, General Manager of OLX in Africa, Middle East and Asia comments “We are proud of our achievements in Africa, including the sustainable businesses we have built in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. We continually evaluate our portfolio of classifieds businesses to ensure a disciplined approach to how and where we allocate capital and management time. With our focus on accelerating the growth of other markets, now is an opportune time to sell our interests in these markets. We are pleased that Jiji will continue to provide the exceptional quality of products and services that the customers in these countries have come to know and enjoy from OLX.”
Zhanibek Sydykov, Partner at Digital Spring Ventures, commented: “We are pleased to be able to assist our partners at Jiji on this transaction, and we strongly believe that the combined Jiji and OLX businesses will become a formidable force in the African e-commerce market. This transaction further advances the consumer reach of one of the star portfolio companies in our current fund, which is focused on partnering with ambitious entrepreneurs to deploy capital in the internet and technology sectors in some of the world’s most exciting emerging markets.”
Following closing of the transaction (which is expected to occur once certain regulatory approvals have been obtained), all users of the sell-and-buy classifieds websites of OLX Nigeria, OLX Ghana, OLX Kenya, OLX Tanzania, and OLX Uganda will be redirected to Jiji. The Jiji team will strive to make the transfer seamless, and to provide a high-quality user experience across all geographies.
About Jiji. Jiji is a leading classifieds marketplace in Africa. Starting from Nigeria, the company expanded to four new geographies in 2019. The consolidated audiences of Jiji and OLX will create a single user base of more than 8 million monthly unique users. Currently, more than a million ads are live on Jiji at any given time. In 2018, the Jiji app was #1 by downloads in the Shopping category for Android users in Nigeria, and it is currently the highest rated app in Nigerian e-commerce.
About OLX. OLX is part of OLX Group, a global tech company which operates a network of market-leading online classifieds platforms across five continents. OLX Group is a Naspers company, a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Around a fifth of the world’s population improve their daily lives by using the products and services from companies that Naspers operates and invests in.
About Digital Spring Ventures. Digital Spring Ventures (DSV) is a leading emerging markets technology investor, facilitating the rapid growth of regional champions in the fast-evolving tech ecosystems of the world’s highest growth markets. Partnering with ambitious entrepreneurs around the world, DSV provides transformative capital and support to outstanding businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
