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Africa’s leading e-commerce company, Jumia, announced on Thursday that it has raised over $326 million from Goldman Sachs, a U.S. investment bank; AXA, a French insurance multinational, MTN, a South African telecommunications giant, among other investors.
 
Africa Internet Group (AIG), the parent company of Jumia, was founded in 2012 with an investment from Rocket Internet, a German internet group. In partnership with Millicom, a Swedish telecoms company, AIG has since created 71 different companies across 26 African countries. The new capital investment will boost the value of AIG to nearly $1.1 billion.  

Jumia is one of Nigeria’s largest ecommerce platforms with an estimated turnover of about $600 million annually. Other AIG brands include Hellofood, an online food delivery service; Jovago, a hotel booking company and Easy Taxi, a ride-hailing service. Others are Kaymu.com, an auction and shopping service; and Carmudi.com, a car classifieds website.

“From the very first investment in Jumia, we have been consistently impressed by both the high-quality management team and growth trajectory," Rocket Internet CEO, Oliver Samwer said in a statement. "We believe that Jumia is a proven winner and that it will continue to be the leading e-commerce platform in Africa.”

AIG has yet to make a profit but its co-chief executive, Sacha Poignonnec, said the Group aims to be “profitable in the next three years.”