Classifieds Smartphone startup, letgo, has announced that it has secured $100 million in Series A funding from South African media giant, Naspers.
letgo is a fun, easy to use, and highly visual mobile marketplace allowing users to post, buy, sell and communicate with each other instantly and for free. The app offers features like instant chat and geolocation-based search, allowing users to connect instantly and for free, without the hassles and delays of email.
letgo was founded by Alec Oxenford, Jordi Castello and Enrique Linares.
One wonders if Naspers’ investment in letgo is a way of entering into the American market. Naspers has hitherto been deliberately investing in emerging markets in Europe, South America and Africa.
For sure, Naspers believes Alec. According to Martin Scheepbouwer, CEO of Naspers Classifieds, “Alec has distinguished himself as an expert with an extraordinary track record in mobile ecommerce. We have seen firsthand Alec’s ability to execute on his vision as we worked together to build OLX into the global force it is today. In letgo, Alec has built a platform that is perfectly tailored to the American consumer, and we’re excited to help his team take it to the next level.”
Oxenford continues to serve as chairman of OLX, the online classifieds platform he co-founded in 2006, in which Naspers later acquired a majority stake. Together they grew OLX, the leading classifieds platform in growth markets like India, Brazil and Poland, into one of the most-used online platforms in the world, with over 240 million active users in more than 40 countries.
“We built letgo because we saw an immense opportunity for innovation and growth in this space, particularly in the U.S.,” said letgo founder Alec Oxenford. “Our platform makes buying and selling household items faster and more intuitive than ever before. This technology – along with Naspers’ significant investment and support, our aggressive plan to grow the platform, and our shared experience building successful companies in this sector – will allow us to capitalize on an area of ecommerce that is poised for explosive growth.”
According to letgo which was launched in 2015, the service has already been downloaded more than 2 million times – with users in the U.S. and around the world posting more than 500,000 listings with a total gross merchandise value of over $25 million.
Letgo is available on both Android and iOS devices.
