Ganji received funding from the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Macquarie Group Ltd totaling $90 million in 2012.

The previous year, it completed its C-round financing of $70 million from Shanghai-based Capital Today and Sequoia Capital LLP from the United States.

Its B-round financing of $20 million came from Nokia Growth Partners and BlueRun Ventures in 2010. BlueRun Ventures made the A-round financing of $8 million in 2009.

Another online marketplace, 58.com Inc, is China's largest such company measured by monthly unique visitors. It went public on the New York Stock Exchange last October.

First-quarter revenue of 58.com was up 103.3 percent to $48.2 million. It generates revenue primarily from memberships and online marketing services.

The online classified market "is a winner-take-most market because it is characterized by the 'network effect'," said a vice-president of a leading global venture capital firm who declined to be identified.

The network effect, or network externality, is the effect that one user of goods or services has on the value of those products to other people.

He said it is essential for an operator in the online classified market to satisfy the requirements of users and provide a good user experience.

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