Rubrikk.no.

Building a sophisticated big data platform to fuel international growth.

The Challenge.

Rubrikk.no is a search engine for classified ads that currently serves 14 markets from its Norwegian base. For users of the service, Rubrikk.no offers a centralised search for all ads in a country, removing the need to go to separate marketplaces.

Currently over 125 million ads are searchable through Rubrikk, which means there needs to be a sophisticated big data platform that can deliver the required functionality, whilst also providing the ability to scale-up based on Rubrikk’s ambitious growth goals, “We started out in Scandinavia, but quickly moved into big markets such as South Africa, the UK, Bangladesh, and Australia,” says Rubrikk CEO, Adil Osmani. “More recently we’ve expanded into Vietnam, Brazil, and Kenya to name a few, so for us it’s about going to markets where we can have a big impact and grow the number of users.”

To help create the required cloud infrastructure, Rubrikk contacted Nordcloud.

The Solution.

After discussing together, Nordcloud recommended the Google Cloud Platform as the best fit for Rubrikk’s needs, in particular the BigQuery analytics service. “We just wanted to ask the experts what to do. Nordcloud’s consultants are at the pinnacle of their field and will point you in the right direction. Within the same week of meeting Nordcloud, we had a call with Google and were up and running, so the time from planning to execution was basically non-existent. The Nordcloud guys have such a high level of knowledge that they can jump straight in,” Adil added.

Nordcloud started by importing all of Rubrikk’s data into the Google Cloud and then used BigQuery to build and scale the platform. This was then combined with Rubrikk’s smart mathematical model, which searches through all classified ads in a country and combines it with historical data and statistics to pinpoint the best products available on the market, which are then shown at the top of search results. Once completed, several tests were run to ensure that the historical data would produce the best search results for the service’s users – for example, if you have 5 million classified ads for cars in Germany, how do you ensure that the best results are shown?

The Results.

Having built a sophisticated platform that can serve their needs, Rubrikk is now in a position to scale-up and launch in new markets around the world. Rubrikk’s team are also able to run complex statistical analyses in a matter of seconds without the need to import any data.

On the collaboration with Nordcloud, Adil said, “We went to Nordcloud to ensure that the most important strategic part of our offering – the statistical analysis that show the best buys in the market – was a success. The overall experience of working with Nordcloud was phenomenal. When you ask questions, you get instant answers. They’re also a neutral party who work with all the clouds, so you know their advice is objective, impartial, and purely based on your best interests. Nordcloud will continue to be an important part of our product and an integral part of our development, especially when we have big decisions to make.”

“We went to Nordcloud to ensure that the most important strategic part of our offering was a success. The overall experience of working with Nordcloud was phenomenal.”

Adil Osmani
CEO, Rubrikk.no

About the Company.

Rubrikk.no is a search engine for classified ads that currently serves 14 markets from its Norwegian base. For users of the service, Rubrikk.no offers a centralised search for all ads in a country, removing the need to go to separate marketplaces.

Dated: March 2020

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Ilja Summala
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