Jumia, the most predominant e-commerce platform across the African continent, has had a good first day listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Jumia offered 13.5 million American Depository shares at $14.5 in its initial public offering on Friday, going by the ticker JMIA. These shares closed at $25.46, or 75.59% higher. Consequently, it has raised $196 million from its IPO.
Jumia is present across 14 African nations- Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and South Africa. In these 14, it serves as an online shop not only for local retailers, but also as a place to book hotels, order meals, arrange flights and other services.
According to documents it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jumia currently has some 4 million active customers, served by some 81,000 sellers on the platform.
While focused on the African market, Jumia is truly a multinational which is incorporated in Germany. It launched in Nigeria in 2012, and gradually expanded to other nations over the following years.
However, seven years into its operations, it is yet to turn a profit; on the contrary, it has, as of December 2018, accrued losses of about one billion dollars.
But that has clearly not dissuaded investors in the stock exchange.
Africa Global News Publication
