African e-commerce company Jumia completes sale of secondary shares at $99.6M

Almost two weeks ago, TechCrunch reported that African e-commerce giant Jumia was planning to sell 20 million American depositary shares (ADSs) and raise more than $100 million, given its share price of around $5.70 at the time.

The e-tailer has now completed the at-the-market transaction offering of 20,227,736 ADSs. Jumia sold the shares at an average price of $4.92 per ADS, generating aggregate gross proceeds before commissions and offering expenses of $99.6 million. TechCrunch reported that Jumia would likely sell at that price.

Jumia CEO Francis Dufay said in a statement that the capital will “further strengthen our balance sheet and help us accelerate our growth trajectory as we progress along our path to profitability.”

Jumia’s cash position currently stands at $92.8 million (comprising $45.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and $47.7 million in term deposits and other financial assets) from its Q2 2024, its most recent financial report. That’s compared to the platform’s liquidity position of $120.6 million in Q4 2023 and $101.5 million in Q1 2024. 

Jumia finished the second quarter of the year with 2 million active quarterly customers, representing a 6.0% quarter-over-quarter increase compared to Q1 2024 and flat year-over-year growth between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024. “Our customer base is still relatively small, around two million active consumers per quarter, while we work in markets with over 600 million people. So we can do much more on the customer base,” Dufay told TechCrunch before undertaking his first secondary share sale as CEO earlier this month.

Between 2020 and 2021, when private and public markets were aflush with capital, the e-tailer raised almost $600 million by selling secondary shares.