While the headquarters of Naspers sits in Cape Town, the South African media conglomerate has got international game. It has just upped its stake in the third largest classifieds site in the world based in Russia by investing R16 billion in Avito. Naspers increased its existing 17.4 percent ownership to a majority 67.9 holding by acquiring the shares of existing investors.

Avito has more than 35 million monthly visitors, with 32 million active listings and adds 500,000 new ones each day. It merged with Slando.ru and OLX.ru — two Naspers-backed rivals — in 2013 which upped its own game in Russia.

This is a major step forward for Naspers,whose online classifieds business is game: it has shares in both OLX in South America and mobile-focused startup Letgo in the U.S. And online buying in Russia is on the rise.

As an early investor, we are excited about the long-term prospects of Avito. The Russian e-commerce market is expected to grow significantly, with more people gaining online access. Over time, e-commerce ratios should move in line with other large countries.

Avito is now Europe’s second unicorn – or Eurocorn as the world has come to know.

[source: techcrunch]