Online classified venture-Quickr.com raises Rs 550 crore

After restaurant search portal-Zomato.com raised Rs 227 crore last November, another online classified website- Quickr.com has raised Rs 550 crore ($90 million) investment led by Swedish investment giant Kennevik and its existing investors.

The other investors who participated in this round of funding include existing investors Matrix Partner India, Omidyar Network, Nokia Growth Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Warburg Pincus and ebay Inc. Quickr had earlier raised Rs 195 crore ($32 million) in May 2012.

The online listing classified business has attracted investors' interest for the past one year. Other listing websites like Zomato and Justdial have been investors' favourite as well. Justdial had raised Rs 348 crore ($57 million) from Sequoia Capital India III, SAP Ventures in June 2012.

Quickr.com founded in July 2008 makes its revenue through optional user fee for better display on the website, lead generation for small listed business, while marginal revenue comes from advertisement on the website. It has a base of about 30 million consumers and small businesses across 940 cities in the country.

Ours is a scalable business model and we enhance offline interaction for small business as technology helps us bypass physical barriers, says Pranay Chulet, CEO & Co-founder, Quickr.com who worked as a management consultant for over ten years in the US.

The funds would be used for technological innovations like mobile classifieds, among other things. The company is also looking to acquire talent for a strong team and marketing the brand, says Chulet, who calls himself a 'made in India' product from IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta. The company may plan to venture into other countries across the globe. Zomato already operates in about 11 countries.