Jumia, Others Get €35 Million in Investment from Millicom

Jumia.com, Africa’s fastest growing online retailer, confirmed that global telecommunications group Millicom International Cellular S.A plans to increase its stake in Jumia.com’s holding company from 20 to 35%. This additional €85 million investment in the parent group is part of a €340 million agreement signed in August 2012. Of the €85m, €35m will be invested in Africa. This is in addition to recent investments from J.P. Morgan and Summit Partners. Three recently launched and highly promising ventures will also benefit from Millicom’s new investment: Kaymu.com, a marketplace to help small merchants reach new customers, Hellofood.com, a food delivery service already present in over five countries, and Vamido.com, a real estate classified website. Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, Jumia.com’s Co-founders and CEOs said, “This investment confirms Millicom’s trust in our ability to become the leading e-commerce group in Africa. It will give us the financial power to increase even more our leadership position in fast growing markets such as Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Kenya and to expand to new countries fast. Our goal is clear: We want to create the best shopping experience in Africa, offering the widest assortment and state-of-the-art delivery service.” Hans-Holger Albrecht, Millicom’s President and CEO, commented: “Sooner than we thought, our joint ventures in Africa have achieved leading positions in key segments of the growing online market. The opportunities look even greater than when we first decided to invest in them. In Africa, e-commerce could hasten the evolution of the established retail sector as consumers increasingly adopt the digital lifestyle. That is why such timely investment is of essence. We are pleased today to give our partners our reiterated financial and operational support to allow proper planning and execution. Online is emerging as one of the four pillars of Millicom’s strategy to transform into a digital lifestyle leader.”