StartupYard Alum Gjirafa.com snags $2 Million Investment From Rockaway Capital

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StartupYard is very excited to be able to announce a day we have been anticipating for some months. It’s now official. Global investment firm Rockaway Capital has invested $2 Million in StartupYard all-star Alum Gjirafa.com. The investment is aimed at growing the Balkans’ internet economy, and making Gjirafa, which is based in Kosovo and Albania, the regional leader in search, ecommerce, and online advertising.

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Mergim Cahani, Co-Founder and CEO of Gjirafa, joined StartupYard as part of our 2014 cohort, and has continued to stay in close contact as a mentor and advisor for our startups. Rockaway Capital is also a StartupYard investor.

Mergim Cahani Gjirafa Investment

The investment follows Rockaway’s aggressive moves in European e-commerce investments of recent years, and it follows earlier investments in Gjirafa from angel investors, including Yandex’s Esther Dyson, Credo Ventures Partner Ondrej Bartos, and Roland Berger Managing Partner (and former StartupYard Mentor in Residence) Philip Staehelin. Gjirafa secured its first angel investments while attending StartupYard.

This new capital will allow Gjirafa to expand more aggressively in the Albanian speaking regions of the Balkans. The deal also calls for Rockaway to commit considerable resources to bringing other internet properties to Albanian language audiences and businesses, building up the internet economy in the region in partnership with Gjirafa.com.

Gjirafa plans to advance Albania and Kosovo’s first native AdNetwork. They will also introduce e-commerce into the region, where the majority of people own no credit cards, but where the internet population is mobile-first, with over 50% of internet traffic going to smartphones. 70% of the populations of Kosovo and Albania are under the age of 35, presenting a huge capacity for growth in e-commerce and advertising going forward.

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“This investment is more than just a bet on the explosive growth potential of the Balkans’ internet economy,” noted Gjirafa’s Founder and CEO, Albanian native Mergim Cahani. “ It’s going to help us accelerate that growth by bringing online services to the region that have never been seen here before.” Cahani has built the search company into a fast-growing organization, boasting 650% growth from late 2014, over 10 million searches executed, and over 1 Million visitors in the past 10 weeks alone.

“This is a clear validation of the potential we have seen in Mergim Cahani and the whole Gjirafa team since we invited them to join StartupYard in 2014,” said StartupYard Managing Director Cedric Maloux. “It’s also a vote of confidence in the StartupYard community and program. This is a smart bet for Rockaway, and a big deal for every day people and businesses in Kosovo and Albania.”