Quikr India Pvt Ltd, which runs an online classifieds and services portal, is in talks to raise an hefty amount between $100 million and $150 million which will makes it valuation of $1 billion, said three people familiar with the matter.
Quikr is also planning to raise the fresh funds from both the existing and some of the new investors, said the people mentioned above, requesting anonymity. As of now the company has not revealed who were the new investors
“At the moment we are very focused on growth and doubling in size again this year. We don’t need additional capital to reach this goal or to get to cross-company profitability, and hence are not looking to raise additional funds at this point,” said a Quikr spokesperson in an e-mail.
If Quikr manages to raise funds sustaining its $1-billion valuation, it would mark a turning point for the company, which at one stage sought to become one of the India’s Craigslist, which is one of the popular online classifieds site in the America as of now.
As of now, the company is also facing tough competition from Olx, which is merely owned by South Africa’s media and e-commerce company Naspers.
As of now, just like many other online businesses, the company has struggled to translate traffic on its platform into revenue and, in the past year, Quikr has totally focused on cutting costs and on expanding those businesses who is in the sort of losing the money.
As of now the company has raised an amount of more than $400 million from some of the leading investors such as Warburg Pincus, Tiger Global, Norwest Venture Partners and Omidyar Networks. It last raised $150 million in a Series H round in April 2015 from Kinnevik, Tiger Global and Steadview Capital, in a round that valued the firm at nearly $1 billion.