Indian online classifieds platform Quikr is one of the most heavily funded startups. Despite low revenue and profitability numbers, its valuation was skyrocketing. In recent times, its valuation has been marked down and its profitability has improved.
Quikr’s Journey
Quikr was founded in 2008 by Pranay Chulet and Jiby Thomas in Bangalore. While working in New York, Pranay was inspired by how digital players like Craigslist were disrupting the traditional classifieds market. He came back to India to start a platform where the local community within a city could come together to buy, sell, rent or find anything in the neighborhood. The company was initially launched in 2005 as Kijiji India, which was owned by Kijiji International, an eBay Inc. subsidiary.
Quikr initially started as a classic horizontal platform that brought buyers and sellers together. Quikr allows users to list over 100 types of products ranging from mobile phones, electronics, cars, bikes, jobs, furniture, homes, to services. From a listing platform, Quikr has expanded to enable payments on its platform and facilitate logistics across cities.
Today, Quikr operates several large classifieds businesses across C2C, Cars, Education, Homes, Jobs, and Services. Real estate is its largest vertical, which accounts for about 30% of its total revenue and is its most profitable vertical. Its used cars and bikes segment accounts for 20%, the services segment (QuikrEasy) accounts for 15%, while QuikrJobs accounts for 15% of its total revenue. The remaining 20% revenue comes from user transactions and goods sold via its online classifieds marketplace.
Quikr gained popularity with the introduction of features like the Maximum Selling Price (MSP) calculator to determine a fair price range, a chat facility called QuikrNxt that maintains users’ privacy, and the ‘Missed call’ service that helps non-Internet savvy consumers post ads.
Quikr’s Financials
Quikr’s revenues come through premium listings, lead generation for car dealers and real estate brokers, and third-party advertisements.
