James Jenkins

Digital Ventures began in the late 1990s, when we identified an online opportunity in the New York flat-sharing market and launched our first platform: Roomgo which grew into one of the largest flat-sharing websites in the world operating in over 20 countries in the world. Roomgo was sold in 2020 to a strategic buyer. In 2003, as the free classified marketplace sector began to grow online, Digital Ventures developed one of the first European classified platforms under the Viva brand, allowing its users to post adverts for goods and services across a broad range of categories; from selling a car, to finding a job - or even love. The Viva classified platform has grown across a number of countries around the world. The Mexican site, one of its most successful regional platforms, was sold to eBay in 2014. One of the world's top ten sites in the online classified advertising industry, Viva has a presence in 15 countries across five continents. As the group grew, Digital Ventures continued to invest in new online marketplace opportunities, running a legal services platform connecting users and lawyers in France, called Justifit. Legal professionals in France have been using the Justifit platform to advertise their areas of expertise and professional qualifications since 2015. A similar model for accounting services, called Le Bon Compatible was also launched. The Digital Ventures group successfully exited its professional portfolio platform in 2020. Still a privately owned company after 20 years, the Digital Ventures group is headquartered in London and continues to run its Viva classified platforms.