Rockaway leads $2m investment in Albanian website Gjirafa

The VC claims its investment is the first ever venture capital tech investment in the Albania region. Gjirafa has previously raised capital from outside investors, though earlier backers were business angels.

Rockaway's investment will be used to grow the website's online search, e-commerce and online advertising offerings to Albanian speakers across the Balkan region. The VC has also committed to help expand the Albanian-speaking internet economy and bring more online offerings to the region.

With its fresh capital in hand, Gjirafa will roll out a Kosovo-Albanian online advertising network in an attempt to stimulate e-commerce in the region. According to Rockaway, 50% of all internet traffic in the region is generated from smartphone use.

Company
Founded in 2014, Gjirafa is an Albania and Kosovo-based website offering online search, advertising and other online services to Albanian language speakers in the Balkan region.

Similar to Yahoo, the company was founded by Mergim Cahani, who developed it in Prague's StartupYard accelerator. The website claims to have had more than 10 million searches since late 2014 and a million visitors in the 10 weeks preceding Rockaway's investment.

People
Rockaway Capital – Dusan Zabrodsky (investment partner).
Gjirafa – Mergim Cahani (founder).

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• CEE
• Technology
• Venture
• Albania
• Rockaway Capital