Almost two weeks ago, TechCrunch reported that African e-commerce giant Jumia planned to sell 20 million American Depositary Shares (ADS), raising over $100 million, with the stock price at the time hovering around $5.70.
The online retailer 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 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 on our path to profitability.”
Jumia’s cash balance currently stands at $92.8 million (of which $45.1 million is in cash and cash equivalents and $47.7 million is in term deposits and other financial assets) as of Q2 2024, its most recent financial report. In comparison, the platform’s liquidity balance was $120.6 million in Q4 2023 and $101.5 million in Q1 2024.
Jumia closed the second quarter of the year with 2 million quarterly active customers, representing quarterly growth of 6.0% compared to the first quarter of 2024 and flat annual growth between the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024. “Our customer base is still relatively small, about two million active consumers per quarter, while we operate in markets with over 600 million people. So we can do a lot more with the customer base,” said Dufay. Tthe old TechCrunch before making his first secondary stock sale as CEO earlier this month.
Between 2020 and 2021, when private and public markets were flooded with capital, the e-tailer raised nearly $600 million through secondary stock sales.
