Africa Internet Group (“ AIG”), the parent of Jumia, the leading ecommerce platform in Africa, has secured € 225 million in funding from new and existing investors. With this investment and the previously announced funding commitment of € 75 million from AXA, this amounts to a valuation of € 1.005bn post investment.
This new round of investment is led by existing investors including South African based Telecoms giant, MTN and German start-up incubator, Rocket Internet as well as a new investor, investment bank Goldman Sachs. The funds will significantly strengthen the balance sheet of AIG enabling the company to leverage the significant growth of Jumia and to capitalize on the significant opportunities in Africa.
“This investment is a recognition of the success that Jumia has already achieved and provides us with a strategic flexibility to further support our efforts to offer the best shopping experience to our customers,”said Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, founders and co-CEOs of Jumia and AIG. “We are delighted to welcome AXA and Goldman Sachs as new investors and are also grateful for the continued confidence from our existing shareholders. To us, it is a recognition of the quality of our operations across the African continent and an affirmation of the significant growth potential of Jumia.”
Jumia intends to use the funds to support its continued growth, and to execute on attractive development opportunities in Africa along with AIG’s other ecommerce platforms.
“We have been extremely encouraged by our partnership with the Jumia team, who have built the business into one of the leading ecommerce platforms in Africa”, said Herman Singh, MTN Group Chief Digital Officer. “We believe that Jumia strongly reinforces our digital offering and we will continue to support the company with our knowledge of the market”.
Oliver Samwer, CEO of Rocket Internet: “From the very first investment in Jumia, we have been consistently impressed by both the high-quality management team and growth trajectory. We believe that Jumia is a proven winner and that it will continue to be the leading ecommerce platform in Africa.”
“We are impressed by AIG’s pan-African operations and execution capabilities, and believe the combination of strategic partners and management’s demonstrated expertise uniquely position the company’s ecosystem to play a leading role in the development of Africa’s online economy”, added Jules Frebault of Goldman Sachs.
Jumia, AIG’s main subsidiary, currently present in 11 African markets, provides the platform for local African businesses to sell products to the fast-growing base of African consumers in particular to the rapidly emerging middle class. Other activities of AIG include Kaymu, a leading online shopping community, as well as leading marketplaces in food delivery (Hellofood), travel (Jovago) and leading classifieds operations in real estate (Lamudi), jobs (Everjobs) and cars (Carmudi).
It is interesting that as Africa Internet Group continues to increase its investment in eCommerce in Africa, Naspers seems to be doing the opposite.
