Carlyle said it has made a minority investment in Ganji.com, an operator of online and mobile-based classifieds in China.
Equity for the investment came from its fund Carlyle Asia Partners IV, the US private equity firm said in a statement on Tuesday.
Further details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2005, Ganji.com is like a mini Craigslist and provides a range of listings across a service categories, including job recruitment, housing, second-hand goods, vehicle trading, pet services, ticketing and speed-dating to over 350 cities in China.
It displays postings from small and medium enterprises, real estate agents and other merchants to attract customers.
Academics and market researchers use the job ads posted on its website for monitoring blue-collar wages and job hopping in China.
“Ganji.com is well-positioned to benefit from the evolution of industry digitalisation, high demand for online classifieds and local services, an enormous internet and mobile internet user base as well as an increasingly sophisticated e-commerce culture in China,” said Eric Zhang, a managing director at Carlyle.
Headquartered in Beijing, Ganji.com has branches in Shanghai and Shenzhen. As of February 2013, Ganji.com had 2.35 million new postings daily and more than 21.69 million daily visitors, according to its website.
Mark Yang, founder and chief executive officer of Ganji.com, said that Ganji.com is poised for exponential growth as the digitalisation of services provides tremendous growth opportunities.”
In previous rounds of fund raising, Ganji.com has received capital from Sequoia, Capital Today, Citic Private Equity, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Macquarie.
Yang moved to China after graduating Yale university to found the Chinese version of Craigslist, Ganji.com. Rival websites include Baixing.com and 58.com, which have also received venture capital and private equity backing.
As of March 31, Washington-headquartered Carlyle has invested $5.2 billion in about 80 transactions in China.
