To build and grow Africa’s leading mobile ‘scam-free’ market place, where people can buy, sell and swap products with other trusted people’, was the clear mission of Mobofree CEO and co-founder Neringa Kudarauskiene when they launched MoboFree in 2011. Today MoboFree is amongst the largest and most successful mobile social and trusted classifieds platforms in (West) Africa, with over 3 million registered users that generates on average about 65 million page impressions on a monthly base. According to Opera State of The Mobile Web – MoboFree belongs to the Top 8 sites in Nigeria, Top 5 in Zimbabwe and Top 9 in Malawi.
MoboFree raised significant growth funding from Netherlands based eVentures Africa Fund (eVA Fund) in order to expand its local presence in Lagos and Accra, start new offices in East-Africa and for marketing investments. eVA Fund also introduced investor Million Monkeys as co-investor in MoboFree. The founders behind Million Monkeys also bring extensive industry knowledge on the table, as they are the founders of online classifieds platforms ‘2dehands’ (second hand goods) in the Netherlands and Belgium, which they recently exited to eBay.
Brian Hirman of eVA Fund: “Since we started eVA Fund early 2010, we were actively looking for interesting companies in the field of online market places and classifieds to invest in. The strategy of Mobofree to integrate social network elements into classifieds boards, makes buying and selling online more fun, personal and more important safer. We all know that scam in online market places is a big problem. The severe measures MoboFree undertakes to avoid this scam on its platform is something we firmly believe in as a key driver for long term success.”
Neringa Kudarauskiene of MoboFree: “Since we launched MoboFree in 2011, the concept quickly went viral, attracting immediate registrations from people that enjoyed the possibility to make online deals in a social and safe environment. We are very exited to have attracted investors like eVA Fund and Million Monkeys to get on board. They not only provide us with a solid financial injection, but also are adding a huge relevant business network and African market know-how to the equation. This investment will allow us to continue and speed up our growth in sub-Saharan Africa and deepen our focus on delivering the most dynamic experience for our users.”
