The web based platform for free online classified advertisements in Russia.

Avito is the number-one classified site in Russia and the Ukraine. With some 20m unique visitors per month, it is a Top 10 website in Russia, offering free usage for both B2C and C2C trade. The company has over 100 employees, and is one of the fastest growing web properties in the Russian-speaking world.

GP Bullhound, the technology investment bank, today announces the completion of a $75m financing round for Avito.ru, Russia’s leading online classifieds site, led by the new investors Accel Partners and Baring Vostok Capital Partners together with existing investors Kinnevik and Northzone.

The company has close to 30 million monthly unique visitors spending on average an hour per month on the site while viewing over two billion pages with items for sale. Of these visitors three million people add six million new items to the site per month. To date, over 10 million Russians have listed items for sale on AVITO.ru.

“In the same time as Russia has taken a top position on the global Internet scene, Avito has established itself as the leading e-commerce destination in the country. Used by millions of Russians every day and enabling transactions representing some 3% of Russian GDP per annum it has a unique position in the market. With this newly raised capital and the support from Baring Vostok and Accel, Avito will continue to grow and strengthen its position as the leading Russian market place”, explains Henrik Persson, Chairman of the Board of Avito and Head of Investments at Kinnevik AB.

GP Bullhound led a competitive pan European and US process resulting in several interested investors offering terms. The interested investors represented financial parties looking to gain a foothold in the fast growing Russian Internet market, the fifth largest Internet market globally. This is GP Bullhound’s second transaction with the company and Per Roman, Managing Partner at GP Bullhound comments; “It is a pleasure to work with such a great management team and company, operating in one of the most dynamic Internet markets globally”.

“GP Bullhound played an important role in arranging this high quality international investment syndicate. We are delighted to complete the second Avito transaction with the GP Bullhound team as our advisor, their understanding of ecommerce and their international network of investors has been a great support in the process” according to Henrik Persson.