Jiji was launched in Nigeria in 2014 as an online marketplace that provides buyers and sellers with an avenue to meet and exchange goods and services. Cars45 on the other hand is a transactional marketplace for car buyers and sellers. The company was founded by former Konga executive Etop Ikpe and has been under different ownership over the last couple of years. Cars45 first received $5 million in funding in 2017 from the Frontier Cars Group (A company that subsequently became the parent company of Cars45), with support from Balderton Capital, EchoVC, and TPG Growth. Soon after, Netherlands-based OLX Group acquired Cars45 from FCG, via its OLX Autos brand. Although Jiji didn’t disclose the details of the acquisition of Cars45, it feels like a total acquisition from the OLX group. This, however, is not Jiji’s first acquisition. Back in 2019, Naspers-owned online marketplace, OLX, sold its assets in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to Nigeria’s biggest classifieds player. Per Techcrunch, Jiji’s co-founder Vladimir Mnogoletniy stated that vehicle listing is the second most active category on the platform. He also added that while the platform’s total listing exceeds $10 billion (with real estate contributing almost $7 billion), the cars listing category has over $3 billion worth of listings. He added that “We have leading positions in all markets we’re present in and are definitely the classifieds leader in the region. Also, we are probably the largest e-commerce company in Africa by GMV.”
What Next for Cars45?
Cars45 will merge its operations in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya with Jiji to help grow the vehicle category on the platform. Jiji’s co-founder noted that the acquisition has a lot of benefits for both. “It’s a very common practice when marketplace and transactional business models work together as one project,” he added.
