Ukrainian IT company Jiji, founded by Anton Volyansky and Volodymyr Mnohletniy in 2014, is expanding its international presence — the company has announced the acquisition of the largest online classifieds marketplace in Bangladesh, Bikroy. This marks Jiji’s first expansion beyond the African continent, signaling the beginning of a new phase of expansion into South Asian markets.
This is reported by Finway
Jiji: from Africa to Asia
Jiji, which operates within the Genesis ecosystem, has become one of the market leaders in online classifieds in developing countries over the past ten years. Today, the platform actively operates in nine Sub-Saharan African countries, serving approximately 65 million users annually. During this period, the company has raised and invested around 55 million dollars in developing its infrastructure, growing both organically and through the acquisition of other services.
Jiji’s portfolio already includes significant deals such as the acquisition of OLX Africa, Cars45, and Tonaton. Through these acquisitions, the company has gradually consolidated the online classifieds market in several African countries, strengthening its position in the classifieds segment.
Potential of the Bangladeshi market and the development of Bikroy
The Bikroy platform, founded in 2012, is now the largest classifieds service in Bangladesh. It covers a wide range of categories: from cars, real estate, electronics to home goods, job vacancies, and services. The Bikroy mobile app has been installed over 10 million times, with monthly traffic reaching 3 million unique users, and the number of active sellers and buyers exceeding 100,000 and 400,000 respectively.
Jiji notes the significant potential of the Bangladeshi market due to its young population, rapid urbanization, and the growth of digital services, creating favorable conditions for scaling online commerce and monetization advertising models.
“After the deal is completed, Bikroy will continue to operate under its own brand and retain its local team to maintain knowledge of the local market and customer base.”
In the near future, Jiji technologies will gradually be implemented on the platform: personalized recommendation algorithms, modern advertising tools, and effective monetization systems that have already proven their effectiveness in African countries.
Thus, the acquisition of Bikroy is not just a targeted deal, but part of Jiji’s strategy to transfer its classifieds development model from African markets to Asian ones, allowing for the formation of a multi-regional platform for developing countries.