1st African tech startup, Jumia Technologies, has released its 2019 first quarter results for the period ending March 31, 2019, which reveals a strong momentum in the Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) growth of 57.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) from €152 million in Q1 2018 to €240 million in Q1 2019.
This growth leads to a 102% growth year-on-year in marketplace revenue, indicating an improvement of 356 basis points of operating loss as a percentage of the gross merchandise volume. This is on the back of an improved number of active consumers and spend per active consumer.
Jumia co-CEOs, Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, who applauded the revenue growth, said, “We believe that Jumia is increasingly relevant for consumers and sellers in Africa. Looking ahead, we stay focused on our core operations of driving consumer adoption and engagement on our marketplace, increasing the penetration of JumiaPay in various markets, while we continue to improve our financial profile and making a sustainable impact on the continent.”
The giant e-commerce company further stated that “in the first quarter of 2019, our marketplace continued to gain depth and diversity as we focused on attracting quality sellers to our platform and providing our customers with an expanding range of products and services.”
He continued by saying “an example of this strategy is the partnership we announced this quarter with the technology leader Xiaomi. As part of this partnership, we are opening the Mi official store on our platform with the ability to offer a number of Xiaomi products on an exclusive basis.”
Jumia Gets €50 Million Partnership Deal With Mastercard.
In another development, the electronic commerce giant announced that Mastercard is investing into the business about €50 million in a partnership initiative. Jumia said they are partnering on a number of enterprises, which includes the development and marketing of co-branded products such as cards, virtual cards and quick response (QR) codes.
The company explained that the €50 million investment into Jumia by Mastercard, in a concurrent private placement with the Initial Public Offering, marks another highpoint in the development of JumiaPay as well as a validation of its potentials.
What Does This Partnership Mean To Jumia?
The firm stated that this milestone reveals the attractiveness of Jumia as a destination of choice for high profile global brands, thus, giving them access to millions of potential consumers in Africa with one partnership.
What Is Jumia’s Value Proposition.
Jumia explained that its strong GMV growth joined with the attractive value proposition it offers both vendors and customers are a key engine of monetization. They derive this from branch out revenue streams such as fulfillment, commissions, Value Added Services, marketing and advertising services.
According to the firm, the gross profit margin as a percentage of GMV increased from 5.6% in Q1 of 2018 to 6.5% Q1 of 2019, by reason of the increased GMV monetisation rate.
About Jumia Technology.
Jumia, is a pan-African e-commerce platform in Africa for fashion, and electronics, among others. The firm has partnered with more than 50,000 local African businesses and individuals and is a direct competitor to Kilimall in Kenya and Konga in Nigeria.
Jumia, recently listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Friday, April 12, 2019, trading at $14.50 per American Depository Share in an IPO. This makes Jumia the first startup from Africa to list on a major global exchange.
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