Jumia raises $50m from IFC and Axian Telecom as Africa’s largest e-commerce platform continues turnaround - Trendtype Africa and Middle East
Jumia Technologies, Africa's largest e-commerce platform, has raised $50m in equity funding from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Axian Telecom, a Mauritius-based African telecoms group. The investment comes ahead of the company’s projections that it will be profitable by the end of 2026.
Jumia Technologies, Africa’s largest e-commerce platform, has raised $50m in equity funding from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Axian Telecom, a Mauritius-based African telecoms group. The investment comes ahead of the company’s projections that it will be profitable by the end of 2026. At its peak Jumia operated in 14 African countries with ambitions to be the “Amazon of Africa. ” It has since exited six markets: Cameroon, Rwanda and Tanzania in 2019; South Africa and Tunisia in 2024; Algeria in February 2026. It discontinued its subscription service Jumia Prime in 2022 and shut down its food delivery service across all seven markets in December 2023. Under CEO Francis Dufay, who replaced co-founders Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec in November 2022, its strategy has been to cut markets, cut services and focus resources on the eight countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt and Morocco. The financials are improving: FY2025 revenue was $188. 9m, up 13% year-on-year. GMV reached $818. 6m, up 14%; Nigeria delivered 50% GMV growth. The EBITDA loss narrowed to $50. 5m from $51. 3m. Jumia is targeting order growth of 25–30% and GMV growth of 15–20%. Jumia also aims to achieve breakeven on an Adjusted EBITDA basis and positive cash flow in Q4 2026, followed by full-year profitability in 2027. It’s done this by expanding regional pickup stations to reduce fulfillment costs, cutting headcount, and deploying AI automation. It has also prioritized higher margin categories (like physical goods and advertising revenue) over chasing volume through heavy discounting. But although losses have narrowed, the business faces growing competition from Chinese platforms Shein and Temu. But the business remains loss-making and faces growing competition from Chinese platforms Shein and Temu. To compete, Jumia is rebuilding around affordable Chinese supply chains. By September 2025, the platform hosted roughly 24,000 Chinese sellers and held roughly 2. 2m China-sourced items in warehouses in Africa. This focus led to a 55% rise in Chinese item sales in Q3 and an 82% surge in items sold by international sellers in Q4, accelerated by a new sourcing office in Yiwu, China in 2025. Jumia has a market cap of approximately US$765m. As such, the IFC will hold a small stake, but is important because of its heavyweight backing for retail successes in Africa. Examples include:Naivas (Kenya), April 2020: Invested approximately $10m in what was then a 60-store supermarket chain. By FY2025, Naivas had grown to 114 stores with revenue of $887m and net profit up 43% to $19m. IFC exited in 2022 when IBL Group acquired the consortium’s stake at a substantial premium. Boxer (South Africa), November 2024: Invested R350m ($19. 4m) as a cornerstone investor in Boxer’s JSE listing. Boxer’s market cap has since reached R36. 6bn ($2. 0bn) on record FY26 results. Retail Holding / CDCI (Morocco / Côte d’Ivoire), October 2024: Invested in Retail Holding and over CFA9bn ($15m) in its Ivorian subsidiary CDCI, ahead of Retail Holding’s merger with listed subsidiary Label’Vie. Axian’s involvement has been building separately. Axian operates mobile networks across Africa through its Yas and Mixx brands. A telecoms group with distribution infrastructure across Africa investing alongside a development finance institution with a proven retail eye is a different investor profile from the venture capital that funded Jumia’s early years. Axian disclosed an 8% stake in Jumia in May 2025. In July 2025, Bloomberg reported Axian had raised $600m partly to fund a potential Jumia takeover. In March 2026, Bloomberg reported Axian was “mulling a buyout” but no acquisition has since materialised.