Catcha Group backed Frontier Digital Ventures (FDV) has injected $933,333 in its Central America portfolio company Encuentra24.com AG (E24), a classifieds portal with FDV’s stake increasing to 38.7 per cent in the company.

FDV, an operator of online classified businesses in emerging markets said in an announcement on Friday that it will exercise its option to subscribe for new shares in Panama-based E24 increasing FDV’s ownership from 34.9 per cent to 38.7 per cent.

“The cash injection will provide E24 with additional funds to accelerate the monetisation of its market leading position,” FDV said

E24 is the leading general classifieds portal in the high growth Central American markets of Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. These markets have an expanding population and rapidly increasing Internet penetration.

E24 claims that total listings increased by 38 per cent since December 2015 to more than half a million at the end of November 2016.Also, monthly site visits have grown rapidly, by more than 50 per cent over the same period to 5.7 million visits in November 2016.

“Encuentra24.com is the clear market leader across Central America, a rapidly growing region with close to 100 per cent mobile penetration, providing consumers with easy access to the internet,” FDV’s co-founder and CEO, Shaun Di Gregorio said.

FDV added that the stake was increased on the basis of E24 continuing to exceed key performance indicators, which includes growth in advertisers, listings, monthly site visits, revenue and EBITDA.

FDV that currently has 15 portfolio companies operating businesses across 19 markets and has a strategy to partner with local entrepreneurs running market leading online marketplace businesses in emerging markets.As each business grows, FDV looks to increase its equity stake as each business matures. -Deal Street Asia