Vamido, the recently launched Nigerian property portal, promises to be the real estate website offering users the best of Nigeria’s housing market. Intended to compete with the likes of PrivateProperty.com.ng, PropertyIndex.com.ng, NigeriaPropertyCentre.com, OLX.com.ng, and Property24, Vamido has Germany’s Rocket Internet standing behind it, which is strengthening its presence in Nigeria with the launch the new property portal.
The Berlin-based Rocket was founded by the Samwer brothers in 2007 and it spans over 50 portfolio companies in 40 markets, and it is known for successfully replicating internet ventures such as Amazon, Zappos and eBay, and then aggressively expanding them in new markets.
Though Vamido is already claiming to be the number one online marketplace for real estate classifieds in the country, Nigeria’s business of selling and renting properties online is far from transparent at present sate, and it is in need of structure. With phantom listings extremely common, Nigerians are overall wary about trusting the validity of online property listings, consequently a sizeable challenge for any company looking to establish itself in the market, but Vamido may have what it takes. Only time will tell.
Rocket Internet’s other ventures in Nigeria include online shopping portals Kaymu and Jumia.