A Chinese netizen browses the website of online classified advertising company Ganji.com in Beijing, China, 13 August 2014. [Photo/IC]

Global alternative asset manager the Carlyle Group LP and fund company Tiger Fund have invested more than $200 million in Chinese online and mobile-based classified advertising operator Ganji Inc, aiming to profit from the nation's expanding e-commerce sector.

Carlyle said it took a minority stake in Ganji without giving further details.

"Ganji is well-positioned to benefit from urbanization, digitalization of services, high demand for online classifieds and local services, an enormous Internet and mobile Internet user base as well as an increasingly sophisticated e-commerce culture," Eric Zhang, a managing director of The Carlyle Group, told China Daily.

Zhang said the firm will support Ganji's product innovation and development in online-to-offline local services with its funds and expertise in the Internet and consumer sectors.

The O2O sector, also known as offline e-commerce, allows Internet users to see information about discounts on websites, which encourages them to visit brick-and-mortar stores rather than virtual outlets.

"This is a time of explosive growth for the classified information market, and the partnership with investors will help us move faster," said Yang Haoyong, founder and chief executive officer of Ganji, at a media briefing in Beijing.

The online classified market in China is expected to grow from $275.4 million in 2012 to $2.4 billion in 2017, and online classifieds as a percentage of total classifieds will increase from 10.6 percent in 2012 to 43.9 percent in 2017, according to iResearch Consulting Group.

Yang said that "2015 will be the year we go public."

According to Yang, the company's main business sectors are job postings, housing ads, life services and vehicle transactions. Revenue from job ads will exceed 700 million yuan in 2014, Yang said.

Established in 2005, Ganji offers a wide range of listings in many categories for more than 350 cities in China.

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