CDC invests 50 million Euros in Africa Internet Group

CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, has announced a €50 million investment in Rocket Internet-backed Africa Internet Group, the parent company of Jumia, the high-profile online consumer retail brand.

The capital will be used to improve the company’s existing operations and help it achieve its expansion plans to new countries. Additional terms of the investment were not released.

“CDC’s investment in AIG means that we are backing a business that is playing a leading role in Africa’s growing ecommerce market,” CDC’s Managing Director for Equity Investments, Mark Pay, said. “The investment will help create thousands of jobs and allow many small businesses to access new markets previously closed to them.”

Welcoming CDC’s investment, Sacha Poignonnec, Co-CEO of Jumia Group said: 

 “We are very glad to be partnering with CDC. Their proven experience in investing in Africa and their expertise on long-term development will be decisive in building a healthy ecosystem around Jumia, developing and accompanying more and more African businesses and entrepreneurs in this shift towards mobile and online. Today, Jumia already reaches 50 million people every month and there is no doubt CDC will be a crucial partner in extending that reach over the next months and years.”

The transaction is the latest in a number of recent deals which has seen Africa Internet Group raise over $400 million in equity capital from a range of blue chip investors that include French insurer AXA, Orange Digital Ventures and global investment bank, Goldman Sachs.