Mobofree

Mobofree was a mobile-first social marketplace targeting African consumers, founded in 2011 by Tomas Martunas, Cristobal Alonso, and Neringa Kudarauskiene. The company, officially out of business as of January 2018, established its primary operations in Nigeria, with a significant presence in Uganda, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. The platform was designed to address the local market's needs, functioning on feature phones as well as smartphones, which was crucial given the low smartphone penetration in Africa at the time.

The business model integrated a classifieds board with a social network, a combination intended to build trust and safety among users. This allowed members to view personal information, see mutual connections, and check ratings before engaging in transactions. Users could buy, sell, and swap a wide range of goods and services, with popular categories including mobile devices, fashion, and electronics. The platform facilitated communication and negotiation through private messaging and chat features, reflecting local commerce culture. Initially, the service was free for peer-to-peer marketing, with revenue generated through advertising. Plans were in place to introduce premium features for advertisers. To further combat scams, a significant issue in online marketplaces, Mobofree implemented an ID verification program and had a team that manually reviewed every advertisement.

Co-founder Cristobal Alonso, a Spanish-born entrepreneur with an MBA from INSEAD, joined in 2013 and served as CEO, driving the company's vision and international expansion. His background includes serial entrepreneurship and extensive experience as an early-stage investor. Under his leadership, Mobofree opened offices in Lagos and Vilnius, Lithuania. The company secured seed funding from investors including Startup Highway, eVA Fund, and Million Monkeys. At its peak, Mobofree reported having over 4 million registered users, generating around 60 million monthly page views, and hosting a significant volume of goods, with a claimed value of $1.97 billion on its Nigerian platform in 2015.

Keywords: social marketplace, classifieds Africa, mobile commerce Nigeria, peer-to-peer trading, used goods marketplace, feature phone platform, online swapping, African e-commerce, Cristobal Alonso, Tomas Martunas, Neringa Kudarauskiene, eVA Fund, Startup Highway, Nigeria tech, Uganda e-commerce, mobile-first platform, online classifieds, scam-free marketplace, social commerce, deadpooled startup