OLX, a competitor to classifieds site Craigslist, raises $13M
OLX, a company competing with classifieds site Craigslist, but more popular outside of the U.S. than it is here, has raised $13 million in a second round of financing.
The company, based in New York and Buenos Aires, is like Craigslist in that it focuses on urban centers to ensure mass. To gain visibility, it partnered with social networking company Friendster — which has also has more traction outside of the U.S.
The two-year-old company was started by Fabrice Grinda and Alex Oxenford. Grinda blogs about the recent funding here, saying it will help the company expand but also tide it over during the economic downturn.
It operates in 40 countries in 15 languages.
The funding comes from General Catalyst, Bessemer Venture Partners, Founders Fund and DN Capital. This adds to the $10 million the company raised in September 2006 from the same VCs and various angels.
The company is trying to differentiate itself by offering more modern features than Craigslist does — Web 2.0 bells and whistles like letting you easily promote listings on other websites, like MySpace, Xanga, and Blogspot.
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