OLX Philippines bought by Carousell for P3 billion

By Madelaine B. Miraflor Carousell, one of the world’s fastest-growing classifieds marketplaces, has acquired online marketing platform OLX Philippines for nearly P3 billion after receiving fresh investments from one of the largest technology investors in the world, Naspers. The investment from Naspers values Carousell at over US$550 million, and cements Carousell’s position in Southeast Asia’s classifieds marketplace solutions business. OLX Philippines, part of OLX Group, has been in the same business for 13 years and is currently the largest online classifieds site in the country, with more than 6 million monthly unique users. As part of the acquisition, Carousell will integrate OLX’s operations and subsidiaries in the Philippines, with integration work happening in stages over the course of the year. The integration is expected to be fully completed in the second half of 2019. Raffy Montemayor, General Manager of OLX Philippines, will manage Carousell’s operations in the market and will lead the transition of its customers to the new platform. To date, Carousell registers the highest engagement rate and time-spent across all online marketplace players. The marketplace has quadrupled in volume globally since inception, featuring more than 196 million listings and 71 million items sold to date. In the past 24 months, Carousell achieved successes in the integration of artificial intelligence into its platform with the launch of predictive features like smart listings, personalised browsing, chatting experiences and the recent, price suggestion function. The past year also saw Carousell expand its marketplace offerings in Singapore with high value categories such as cars, property, jobs, services and finance. “Naspers’ investment will enable us to accelerate the cementing of our leadership in Southeast Asia and our pace of innovation," said Carousell Co-founder and CEO Quek Siu Rui. "We will continue deepening our expertise in technology and AI to bring greater value, trust and convenience to our users. We are grateful for the strong support from our new and existing investors, and their conviction in our capabilities, passion for the mission and product vision,” he added.