Parent company of Pakistan property portal Zameen.com expands operations with acquisition of Kaidee
EMPG, the parent company of Pakistani property portal zameen.com, this week announced that it had acquired Thailand’s largest online marketplace, Kaidee, expanding its footprint in the South Asia region.
According to a press release issued by EPMG, the transaction was closed in February 2020 for an undisclosed sum. Following the acquisition, Kaidee joins Zameen (Pakistan); Bayut (Gulf Cooperation Council); Bproperty (Bangladesh); and Mubawab (Morocco and Tunisia).
Headquartered in Bangkok, Kaidee was founded in 2011 and quickly rose to become the leading online marketplace in Thailand, a Southeast Asian nation of nearly 70 million people. The portal boasts a strong brand and sizeable traffic figures, and features more than 30 different categories of goods and services.
“Thailand is one of the most exciting, dynamic markets in Southeast Asia, and its real estate and auto verticals are some of the largest in the region,” EMPG CEO Imran Ali Khan said of the deal, adding that the Group’s approach to online marketplaces was consumer-driven and localized. “Kaidee has a rich history in Thailand and has built a very strong brand on the back of extraordinary focus on technology and connecting consumers, and we look forward to investing significant resources to take the business to the next level,” he added.
EMPG co-founder and zameen.com CEO Zeeshan Ali Khan also welcomed Kaidee into the group. “EMPG is a quickly growing family, and we are happy to see Thailand’s top marketplace join its ranks,” he said. “This acquisition comes with a number of opportunities to learn and grow for both parties, and capitalizing on them is going to be very important. We look forward to stepping into the broader marketplace dynamic, and in turn hope to impart significant experience on the real estate vertical side,” he added.
Kaidee CEO Tiwa York was equally effusive in his praise for the acquisition and his organization’s new parent company. “EMPG is at the forefront of the global online marketplace industry and has grown to prominence given its focus on providing localized solutions to each market in which it operates,” he said. “This acquisition will allow Kaidee to accelerate its plans to provide market-leading solutions to Thailand across all of our verticals,” he added.
With the conclusion of the deal, Imran Ali Khan and EPMG senior executive Mark Nosworthy have joined the Kaidee Board of Directors.
EMPG owns and operates property verticals and online marketplaces in emerging markets. It invests heavily in tech and R&D, with dedicated tech centers in Romania, Spain, and Pakistan. EMPG is present in over 50 cities across these geographies, with 4,500+ employees.
Kaidee offers 31 main product categories and boasts 7 million unique visitors and 600 million pageviews/month. It was founded in 2015.