Matrix Partners' investment led to rebranding of Kijiji.in

Kijiji.in, renamed Quikr.com, is now an independent company backed by investments from Matrix Partners and eBay Inc

Online classified advertising site Kijiji.in, which allows consumers to post free ads across various categories such as cars, real estate, jobs and matrimony, has been renamed Quikr.com.

Explaining the key reason behind the rebranding to afaqs!, Jiby Thomas, cofounder and vice-president, marketing, Quikr.com, says, "Earlier, Kijiji.in was solely owned by a subsidiary of eBay Inc., Kijiji International, which runs various classified portals across different regions of the world. In February, the Mumbai based venture capitalist (VC), Matrix Partners India, invested in the Indian venture, Kijiji.in, as a result of which Kijiji.in was moved out of the global network of Kijiji International and restructured as a separate and independent company, which is now jointly owned by Matrix Partners and eBay Inc. In order to create a separate identity for this independent company, we have rebranded it Quikr.com."

Thomas clarifies, "Matrix Partners invested in the Indian venture only, so there is no change in the brand names of the other sites owned by Kijiji International."

Interestingly, with the rebranding of Kijiji.in, the company has relaunched itself under the ‘.com’ domain name. Thomas points out that a consumer research study undertaken before the rebranding of the portal revealed that the default selection of domain name among consumers is ‘.com’.

In its earlier avatar, the company was earning its revenue only through text ads. After the rebranding, it intends to increase the number of revenue streams. Thomas says, "We will open other revenue streams as well. Our revenue will be based largely on advertisements, but we will opt for different formats of advertising such as display ads. Later, we may charge a listing fee for improving the visibility of posted ads."

Quikr.com will be promoted mainly through Internet marketing involving search marketing and display advertisements across major portals. The company is already carrying out below-the-line marketing activities in Delhi and Mumbai to get more users on board.

Kijiji India, launched in 2005, is currently available in 12 Indian cities, among them Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Chennai and Kolkata. The company is considering launching Quikr.com in other cities, too, such as Jaipur, Lucknow, Goa, Surat and Nagpur.

eBay runs various classified sites such as Kijiji.com (the US), Kijiji.ca (Canada), Kijiji.de (Germany) and Kijiji.fr (France) under its Kijiji International network. In 2005, it acquired two separate classified sites, GumTree.com and Loquo.com, based in the UK and Spain, respectively.