A group of entrepreneurs joined efforts in order to create the first online job classifieds company in Latin America, Bumeran.
The company grew quickly and set up operations in the main markets of Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, and the Hispanic market of the US. The company’s achievements did not go unnoticed and Bumeran was acquired by Terra Lycos.
In order to fulfill our vision of building a leading multinational business on the Internet, we repurchased the company’s shares and regained its control.
The company continued to grow and drew the attention of Tiger Globam Management, one of the most renowned Internet investors.
Tiger Global took control of Bumeran and pumped more funds into the company, which allowed it to conduct several takeovers that doubled the geographic reach of the company and increased investments in major markets. Universobit.com and multitrabajos.com were acquired and Bumeran was launched in Peru. Tiger Global decided to expand its scope and entered the online real estate classifieds business.
Through the acquisition of Imovelweb (Brazil), Inmuebles24 (Mexico), Adondevivir (Peru) and Plusvalía (Ecuador).
The company increased its presence in Brazil through the acquisition of ImoveisCuritiba and enhanced its product supply by acquiring CRM and software solution providers for the real estate market. In late 2012, Riverwood became a shareholder of Navent after investing USD 30 MM. The fresh funds were used to expand the company’s operations in the region and to provide financial flexibility to develop new products.
Navent developed mobile apps for the entire region, integrated technical platforms and launched massive marketing campaigns to take advantage of market opportunities. The company also acquired Panama’s leading real estate site, CompreoAlquile.com, together with ConlaLlave.com (Venezuela) and Execuzone.com (Argentina).
Navent received a USD 20 MM investment from Riverwood Capital, which allowed the company to consolidate its regional leadership and accelerated the growth of its most important assets. Navent acquired Chile’s largest online job portal, Laborum.com, which allowed it to become a leader in yet another country, in addition to Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador.
Navent purchased Dridco’s main assets, the websites ZonaJobs and ZonaProp, doubling its size, with almost 850 employees, offices in 8 countries, and projecting a turnover of USD 100 MM.
