Jumia secures $50 million from IFC, Axian as African e-commerce giant closes in on profitability

African e-commerce company Jumia has secured $50 million in fresh equity from investors led by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, giving the loss-making retailer additional financial firepower as it pushes towards its first profitable year.

Jumia has secured $50 million in fresh equity from investors led by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation as it pushes towards profitability.

• African e-commerce company Jumia has raised $50 million in fresh equity from IFC, Axian and other investors.
• IFC, the World Bank Group’s private-sector arm, is investing $25 million, half of the total fundraising.
• Jumia’s adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed 36% to $8.7 million in Q2, while revenue increased 14% to $52 million.
• The company is targeting adjusted EBITDA breakeven and positive cash flow in Q4 2026 before full-year profitability in 2027.

IFC is investing $25 million, while Axian, one of Jumia’s largest existing shareholders, and other investors are providing another $25 million, according to regulatory filings released on Wednesday.

The fundraising comes at a pivotal point for Jumia, which has spent years burning cash while attempting to build an e-commerce business across some of Africa’s most difficult retail and logistics markets.

After shutting operations in several countries, cutting costs and narrowing its focus, the company now says it expects to reach adjusted EBITDA breakeven and positive cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2026, before achieving full-year profitability and positive cash flow in 2027.

The new capital gives Jumia more room to pursue that target. At the end of June, Jumia’s liquidity position stood at $48.3 million, down from $62.6 million at the end of March. The company used $11.8 million in operating cash during the second quarter.

That means the $50 million equity injection is larger than Jumia’s entire liquidity position at the end of the quarter.

DON’T MISS THIS:Top 100 most funded startups in Africa

IFC puts $25 million behind Jumia

Under the transaction, investors agreed to buy about 9.1 million new American Depositary Shares at $5.52 each, generating expected gross proceeds of $50 million.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of August, subject to customary conditions.

IFC, the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, is responsible for half of the funding.

Jumia said it would use the proceeds to support its next phase of growth, improve efficiency in its core African markets and strengthen its marketplace and logistics network.

The IFC investment also comes with environmental, social, governance and anti-corruption requirements.

Jumia agreed to comply with IFC performance standards, an environmental and social action plan, IFC’s exclusion list and anti-corruption guidelines, according to the company’s regulatory filing.

Axian’s participation also deepens the Madagascar-based pan-African group’s exposure to Jumia.

Axian was already one of Jumia’s largest shareholders, while its CEO, Hassanein Hiridjee, was elected to Jumia’s Supervisory Board earlier this year.

IFC is investing $25 million in Jumia, while Axian and other investors are providing the remaining $25 million in the African e-commerce company’s latest capital raise.[Gemini Generated Image]BI Africa

Jumia’s losses are shrinking

The investment comes alongside signs that Jumia’s years-long restructuring is beginning to improve its financial performance.

Revenue increased 14% to $52 million in the second quarter from $45.6 million a year earlier.

Gross merchandise value, which measures the value of goods sold through its platform, rose 20% to $216.3 million. After adjusting for markets Jumia has exited, GMV increased 23%.

Gross profit climbed 28% to $30.7 million. More importantly for a company that has struggled for years to make its African e-commerce model profitable, losses continued to narrow.

Jumia’s adjusted EBITDA loss fell 36% to $8.7 million from $13.6 million a year earlier, while operating losses dropped 25% to $12.4 million. Loss before income tax declined by a third to $10.9 million.

The platform is also attracting more shoppers. Quarterly active customers increased to 2.6 million, while physical goods orders reached 6.3 million. Adjusted for Jumia’s exits from some markets, orders grew 28% year-on-year.

DON’T MISS THIS:Chinese e-commerce giants Temu and Shein tighten grip on Africa as Jumia exits another African market

Nigeria, one of Jumia’s biggest markets, was among the strongest performers. GMV increased 36% and orders rose 34% during the quarter.

The results followed an already stronger first quarter, when revenue jumped 39% to $50.6 million and GMV climbed to $211.2 million.

From expansion to survival, and now profitability

Jumia’s current strategy is significantly different from the aggressive expansion that characterised its earlier years.

Founded in 2012, the company expanded across Africa and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2019, becoming one of the continent’s most prominent publicly traded technology companies.

But building an Amazon-style business across fragmented African markets proved expensive.

Low purchasing power, costly last-mile delivery, weak addressing systems, uneven internet access and a heavy dependence on cash payments complicated the economics of online retail.

Jumia subsequently began dismantling parts of its original strategy. It exited food delivery, reduced headcount and moved away from some business lines while concentrating investment on its core marketplace and logistics operations.

DON’T MISS THIS:Jumia bets on China imports and Nigeria growth to beat competitors, reach profitability

In late 2024, the company closed its operations in South Africa and Tunisia, saying both markets offered insufficient growth and profitability potential relative to the resources required.

The two businesses had represented only a small share of Jumia’s total orders and gross merchandise value.

Jumia subsequently exited Algeria in early 2026, leaving the company operating across eight core African markets.

The retrenchment allowed management to concentrate capital on markets where it believes the economics of e-commerce can reach sustainable scale.

The IFC investment is therefore more than an expansion round. It amounts to a sizeable institutional bet that Jumia’s smaller and more disciplined business can finally make pan-African e-commerce economics work.

The company is now trying to expand volumes without recreating the heavy cash burn that accompanied its earlier growth.

One part of that strategy involves increasing penetration outside major cities, where formal retail and product availability can be more limited.

Another is expanding the number of international sellers using the platform. Items sold by international merchants increased 96% year-on-year during the second quarter, driven partly by Jumia’s growing Chinese seller base and affordable fashion sourced from Turkey.

That strategy also introduces risks, particularly exposure to global supply chains and currency movements.

Jumia said supply constraints affected higher-value categories such as phones and electronics during the quarter, while higher fuel prices increased pressure across its markets.

Demand in Côte d’Ivoire was also affected by lower cocoa farmgate prices. Yet the company maintained its profitability targets.

Jumia expects full-year 2026 GMV growth of between 27% and 32%, adjusted for changes to its operating footprint, and an adjusted EBITDA loss of between $25 million and $30 million.

It continues to target adjusted EBITDA breakeven and positive cash flow in the fourth quarter, followed by full-year profitability in 2027.