‘Amazon of Africa’ Jumia heats up with $26M | VentureBeat

Africa doesn’t need Amazon. It has its own rainforests and its own e-commerce giants.

Online retailer Jumia has secured $26 million (€20 million) to expand into additional markets in Africa. Like its American forebear, Jumia sells a wide range of goods at low cost with easy delivery and returns.

The retailer is currently active in Nigeria, Egypt, and Morocco and sells clothing, electronics, furniture, books, baby products, cosmetics, home appliances, and even booze.

Rather than paying online, shoppers can pay at their doorstep. Jumia launched about a year ago out of Rocket Internet and quickly grew its customer base.

Many of Africa’s e-commerce companies focus their operations in South Africa, where the economy and access to technology is the strongest.

“There is very much a demand from the growing middle class to have quality products both in beauty and in fashion that is currently not met in the Nigerian market or in many other African countries,” said Rocket Internet CEO Stiegeler in an interview with VentureVillage.

“That means that either they buy things abroad or have other people ship the product in, which is obviously very time-consuming, expensive and tedious.