Jumia, Africa’s largest e-commerce platform, filed with the SEC for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange which could value the firm at $1.6 billion.
“This is our initial public offering, and no public market currently exists for our ordinary shares or ADSs. We anticipate that the initial public offering price of the ADSs will be between $ and $ per ADS. We intend to apply to list our ADSs on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, under the symbol “JMIA.” Jumia said in the filing.
The e-commerce platform that was set up by French entrepreneurs Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara in 2012; with the listing, it seeks to raise funds and boost awareness, according to its filing on Tuesday.
“We intend to benefit from the expected growth of e-commerce in Africa through the investments that we have made and the extensive local expertise that we have developed since our founding in 2012,” Jumia said in the filing.
Its shareholders include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Millicom International Cellular SA, Orange SA, and Africa Internet Group, a venture backed by Goldman, MTN and Rocket Internet SE.
Banks leading the IPO include Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc., Berenberg and RBC Capital Markets.
Jumia is active in six regions in Africa, which consist of 14 countries that together accounted for 72% of Africa’s GDP of €2 trillion, and 74% of African consumer expenditure of €1.4 trillion in 2018, according to the IMF and Euromonitor, respectively.
