Saltside Technologies, a rapidly growing tech company with offices in Dubai and Sweden, has seen its online classified listing site Tonaton.com grow by more than 300 per cent – with a large percentage of that being from Ghana, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Founded by early Skype employee, Nils Hammer, Saltside provides online classified site infrastructure to emerging digital markets. Saltside currently has a total potential audience of 200 million people and the company also has sites in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where internet adoption is expected to triple over the next few years. Its team has now grown from three to more than 200, creating jobs and growth in countries which it has a presence. Over 85 per cent of staff are based in Ghana, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh.
Hammer commented “Our mission is to create a safe, large,and efficient marketplace for millions of people to make deals who could not previously access them. We’ve witnessed first-hand how powerful efficient markets are in improving ordinary people’s lives. We want to support and foster the naturally entrepreneurial attitude which is prevalent in these markets.”
Hammer added that “The combined value of online advertising in Africa and The Middle East is expected to reach $2.8bn by 2016. Yet, far too many countries in these incredibly dynamic markets are overlooked, including those with the most growth potential like Ghana and many others. At Saltside, our goal is to be the forefront of enabling those markets to get online and access buyers and sellers from across their country, as well as locally.”
Saltside Technologies is backed by $25 million in funding from Swedish investment house AB Kinnevik.
