Digikala

Digikala
Private company
Industry Ecommerce
Founded July 1, 2006 (2006-07-01)
Founders Hamid & Saeed Mohammadi
Headquarters Tehran, Iran
Number of employees
 2600 (2017)
Subsidiaries digistyle.com, fidibo.com
Website digikala.com

Digikala is the biggest e-commerce startup in Iran. It was founded in July, 2006 by twin brothers Hamid and Saeed Mohammadi who had an unpleasant experience when they tried to buy a digital camera, after which they used $10,000 of their own savings to start the company.[1][2] The company was reported to be valued at $150 million in 2014, and $500 million in late 2015.[3][4] One of its investors is Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, although Digikala's main investor is Sarava Pars, an Iranian investment company.[5] Digikala offers same day delivery in Tehran and Karaj, and offers next day delivery in 20 other cities.[6]

Growth

Digikala bag

Digikala is ranked by Alexa as Iran's 3rd most visited website.[7] It has 1,700,000[8] unique visitors per day, and 85% of Iran's ecommerce now takes place on Digikala.[9] The company does not publicise its revenue but has said sales are growing at a rate of 200% a year, and that it is receiving orders from even the most remote villages in Iran. Hamid Mohammadi said the main focus of the company remains expansion "even if that means we will not be profitable, which is how Amazon is operating”.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "REUTERS SUMMIT-'Iran's Amazon' disregards post-sanctions competition, looks to expand".
  2. ↑ "Forbes: Meet The Twin Brothers Transforming How Iranians Shop".
  3. ↑ "The Washington Post: Here's what it's like to launch a start-up in Iran".
  4. ↑ "BBC: Iran's digital start-ups signal changing times".
  5. ↑ "RussiaToday: First Russian billionaire investing in Iran after sanctions".
  6. ↑ "The Washington Post:What the Iran deal means for the country's surprisingly strong tech industry".
  7. ↑ "Alexa: Top Sites in Iran".
  8. ↑ "دیجی‌کالا بزرگ‌ترین مرکز پردازش سفارش در خاورمیانه را راه‌اندازی کرد".
  9. ↑ "The Guardian: From Digikala to Hamijoo: the Iranian startup revolution, phase two".
  10. ↑ "FT:Iranian ecommerce thrives despite obstacles".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.