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12 Things You Didn’t Know About Africa’s First Startup Unicorn

12 Things You Didn’t Know About Africa’s First Startup Unicorn

Africa celebrated its first startup unicorn in 2016 when Jumia Group, a Lagos-based e-commerce ecosystem was valued at more than $1 billion.

Formerly named the Africa Internet Group, Jumia became the first privately owned startup to gain unicorn status, joining an elite group of 150-or-so companies around the globe.

The e-commerce startup surprised some people when it was announced as the first African tech unicorn. Jumia is not particularly well-known around the world. It has held investments in various more recognizable e-commerce properties. A rebranding in 2016 gave it more brand recognition as Jumia.

Using a sales approach similar to Amazon, Jumia is a subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular S.A., a telecommunications and media firm serving over 63 million customers across 14 markets in Africa and Latin America.

Here are the 12 things you didn’t know about Africa’s first startup unicorn, Jumia Group.

Sources: TrueAfrica, Inc, DigitalTrends, Techcrunch, TechCabal, LinkedIn.