JUMIA becomes Africa’s largest e-commerce operator’s with a billion-dollar IPO

Jumia officially becomes the largest e-commerce operator in Africa today after the launch of its landmark initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange.

Jumia was founded in Lagos, Nigeria, by two French entrepreneurs in 2012 and expanded to over 14 African countries with businesses across several verticals including food delivery, real estate, logistics, hotel and flight bookings. The so-called “Africa’s Amazon” has 4 million customers on a continent where just 1% of retail sales are via online. Its largest shareholder is MTN, Africa’s biggest telecoms company.

The IPO marks a pivotal fork in the company’s journey. Jumia is listing 17.6% of the company at $14.50 a share, giving the company “unicorn” status – a technology start-up worth $1bn-plus. The company’s sales jumped by almost 40% last year to $147.3m.

Jumia raised $196m yesterday selling its shares at $14.50.

Then it share prices rose to over $24; that's a 60% increase. And if it had valued itself at that price originally it would have raised $324m.

But the $14.50 price was the best safe bet for the yet-to-post-a-profit co.
— Abubakar (@IAtalkspace) April 13, 2019

The BBC’s Africa Business Editor, Larry Madowo, said that Jumia was not yet profitable and had accumulated losses of nearly $1bn since it was founded.

Is Jumia Really African?

The eCommerce giant’s principal executive office is based in Germany.
Jumia’s African co-founders, Tunde Kehinde and Raphael Afeador both exited the company in 2014.
The official name used in the filing is Jumia Technologies AG. The ‘AG’ behind the name is an abbreviation for Aktiengesellschaft, which is a German term for a stock corporation. But unlike its parent company, Rocket Internet AG whose shares are publicly traded in the Western European country, Jumia Technologies AG isn’t.

We hope to see actual “African startups” debut on the New York stock market moving forward.