(Ecofin Agency) - South African e-commerce giant Naspers will invest in the Romanian platform eMAG €500,000, before the end of the year, to test new e-commerce technologies.

The solutions will be developed by eMAG Labs, eMAG’s research department. To insure the implementation of the solutions, the company will, within the next two years, add to the 600 IT engineers it currently employs 200 more programmers.

“Romania is a key market for Naspers, and e-commerce is one of the sectors with the fastest growth in the region in the upcoming years. eMAG is in the ideal position to benefit from this growth. We are happy we can support these plans,” said Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk in a press release dated 31 Aug 2016.

eMAG handles e-commerce operations in Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, and other European counties. In 2015, its turnover soared by 56% amounting to RON1.95 billion (€437.7 million). The firm’s total investment last year amounted to €48 million, half of which was dedicated to regional development.

Naspers keeps investing in eMAG which shows great potential for growth. In 2016, the platform offered its 19 million visitors more than a million products. “eMAG is currently the largest store, with over one million products and 17,000 brands. We will invest in diversifying the product selection, in developing them in depth and in the accelerated growth of the Marketplace platform. In one year, we want to reach 4,000 partner stores. Marketplace eMAG represents the biggest growth opportunity for every seller,” eMAG CEO Iulian Stanciu said.