Antengo Pushes on Mobile Classifieds: ‘Websites Mean Nothing to Us’

Vertical sites such as AutoTrader, Cars.com, Zillow and Trulia that provide listings, services and features are seeing a large share of their user base move to mobile. But all-in-one classifieds sites in the mode of Craig’s List, Pennysaver, Recycler.com, newspapers and alt weeklies haven’t moved as fast to mobile.

Can a mobile all-in-one approach (i.e. native apps) gain traction? We were sorry to see the drop out last October of Eggdrop.com, a mobile classifieds site that had started to see some traction.

But we’re still gung-ho on mobile classifieds. Mobile is an especially effective mobile channel, given its immediacy; geo-location capabilities; ties to social media ratings/reviews; and ability to be programmed for automatic notifications when items are added or sold.

Several companies, in fact, are pushing hard to build out a mobile-first classifieds marketplace. Among them: Antengo. The San Diego startup, known to its fans as “Ant,” was launched in 2010 by a Microsoft Advertising Network vet and a classifieds entrepreneur who built Barefoot Student and another successful vertical classifieds site.

Antengo has seen over 250,000 downloads of its Android and iPhone apps and seven million listings, with 30 percent average monthly growth across 2012. ” The site is available on iOS, Android and, soon, Windows Phone. It and is entirely focused on mobile.

“A website means nothing to us,” says cofounder Marcus Wandell (the Microsoft vet). “We’re taking an Instagram approach.” Everything traces back to the mobile device. (Users) don’t have to share phone numbers or emails to instantly coordinate location-based deals that save them money.”

While decidedly listings-centric, user profiles are emerging organically via Facebook sign-ins (which account for 36 percent of traffic). By 3Q, user profiles, verified seller status and other forms of marketplace transparency will emerge in the apps. This moves Antengo closer toward an area pioneered by Oodle using Facebook friends for classifieds. Oodle was sold last month to QVC.