| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Classifieds |
| Founded | June 2006 |
| Headquarters | Wiesbaden, Germany |
| Products | Yalwa Business Directory, Locanto Classifieds Site, askalo Local Q&A |
| Owner(s) | Yalwa |
| Website | www.locanto.com |
Locanto is a worldwide online classifieds network with areas dedicated to jobs[1], personals, for rent, for sale, services, community, real estate, vehicles, and pets. Locanto Classifieds is available in 38 countries worldwide, covering over 1600 cities.
Contents |
The Locanto Classifieds sites are operated by the German startup company Yalwa located in Wiesbaden, Germany. Locanto was launched in July 2006 with a local classifieds site for New York. One month later, on August 21, 2006, the service was extended to the U.S. cities of Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. As of 2007, every major U.S. city has its own accessible site for the Locanto classifieds service. In addition, Locanto classifieds sites are now available in 5 languages for more than 1600 cities in 38 countries worldwide.
Locanto is one of three local web applications, including Askalo and Yalwa, created by the German start-up company, Yalwa.[2] Klaus P. Gapp, CEO and founder of Yalwa, previously founded and operated OpusForum.org, a local classifieds site for the German speaking market. OpusForum.org was bought by Ebay in 2005 and merged with its classifieds site Kijiji one year later.[3]
In regards to internet safety, Locanto has established an independent blog on Safer Trading in which safety tips for online trading are shared with users.[4]
The Locanto classifieds sites are available in the following countries:
Argentina - Australia - Austria - Belgium - Bolivia - Canada - Chile - China - Colombia - Dominican Republic - Ecuador - El Salvador - France - Germany- Hong Kong - India - Ireland - Jamaica - Japan - Malaysia - Mexico - Netherlands - New Zealand - Pakistan - Panama - Paraguay - Peru - Philippines - Puerto Rico - Singapore - South Africa - Spain - Switzerland - United Arab Emirates - United Kingdom - United States (in English and Spanish) - Uruguay - Venezuela [5]
Since February 2010, the Locanto classifieds sites are also available in a mobile version for mobile web users[6]. Browsing and searching classified ads as well as posting a free ad is enabled in the mobile version.[7]
Languages that are currently covered:
Dutch
English
French
German
Spanish
In January 2010, several Indian media channels reported a story about Kannada actress Sanchitha Padukone's pictures having been misused in a personals services ad on Locanto India, naming Locanto a "porn site".[8][9]
While there is a dedicated version of this site for the Indian market[10] over 60% of the traffic of the American version of the site comes from India.[11]