OLX, Prosus vs Mercado Libre vs Navent: Where do they Compete in South America?

Last week we looked at the two biggest competitors in Europe with our Schibsted - Adevinta and Ringier Axel Springer infographic. 

Continuing our new infographic series organizing and sharing the biggest property portal owners in the industry, and as part of our work-in-progress database of every property portal in the world, we go to South America, where we look at the three biggest names in the region: Prosus and OLX, MercadoLibre, and Navent.

Prosus - OLX

Prosus is the international internet division of South African publishing giant Naspers, Africa's largest public company. OLX is the generalist classifieds brand fully owned by Prosus. 

Properati

Properati's assets in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay were acquired by OLX Group in 2018. The portals Properati had in Brazil, Mexico and Chile were not included in the deal and have since rebranded to Casafy.

Brazil

In Brazil, two property portals are jointly owned by OLX Group and Adevinta. 

The ZAP VivaReal Group was established in 2017 after Grupo ZAP and VivaReal entered a merger. OLX and Adevinta acquired 100% of ZAP for approximately $504.9 million with the deal finally getting the all-clear from competition authorities in the Autumn of 2020. As well as these vertical portal sites, the company does of course own the mighty OLX Brasil horizontal classifieds site which can be considered the market leader in Brazil.

Mercado Libre, Inc

An Argentinian online classifieds giant, it’s no surprise that Mercado Libre would have practically the whole continent coloured in yellow in the infographic. Its platform brings in hundreds of millions of users a month within the region, making it not only one of the most important companies in South America, not only in the world of classifieds.

Mercado Libre

Mercado Libre offers its services across the continent with the real estate sections of the site in many countries having the look and feel of a vertical portal.

That being said, during the research phase for this infographic, we discovered that while most countries are 'portalised' for real estate, Paraguay's, for example, shows up as less of a portal in terms of how it looks and more like a half-forgotten classifieds. Whether that is because it’s still under construction and will soon get the love and attention it needs, or if it's because Mercado Libre doesn’t see the need to update the design here is up for debate.

Chile

MercadoLibre doesn’t only have 'portalised' sections of its horizontal classifieds site. PortalInmobiliario is a standalone vertical and was purchased by Mercado Libre in 2014. The title is currently the most popular property portal in Chile according to Similarweb. 

Venezuela

In Venezuela, Mercado Libre owns and operated TuInmueble which it purchased from Classified Media Group (CMG) in 2008 for approximately $19 million. 

Navent

Navent is a classifieds giant, with an impressive number of portals under its belt. Established in 2009, it has since grown from Bumeran to what it is, today: an aggregation of classifieds titles. It is one of the leading online real estate marketplaces in LATAM thanks to the number of portals it has purchased and grown throughout the years. 

Argentina

Zonaprop was purchased when its parent company, Dridco, was bought out by Navent in 2015.

Brazil

Navent has acquired two property portals that deal with the Brazilian market. Imovelweb was bought in 2010 and was part of the first batch of property portals the classifieds giant would go on to purchase. 

In 2014, Navent acquired Wimoveis by raising $20 million from Riverwood Capital and using that to expand its presence in Brazil. 

Colombia

Mexican property portal, Inmuebles24, was purchased around the same time as Imovelweb in 2010 as part of Navent’s expansion into real estate. Though its headquarters are in Mexico, Inmuebles24 Colombia holds its own in South America. 

Ecuador

Navent owns two portals in Ecuador. It acquired Vive1, one of Ecuador’s top property portals, in 2018. Plusvalia’s acquisition, the other Ecuadorian property portal now under Navent, was part of the company’s expansion into property portals in 2010, alongside Inmuebles24 and Imovelweb.

Peru

Another acquisition to cinch Navent’s place in the LATAM real estate sector, it purchased Adondevivr in 2010 along with Plusvalia, Inmuebles24, and Imovelweb.

Venezuela

In 2013, around the time Navent was developing its digital app, it acquired a number of property portals in the region, ConlaLlave.com being its Venezuelan choice.