African e-commerce startup Jumia files for IPO on New York Stock Exchange

African e-commerce startup Jumia has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange.

Jumia's CEO Sacha Poignonnec who confirmed the company's plan did not confirm the date for the actual IPO. He stated that the minimum SEC timeline for beginning sales activities (such as road shows) is 15 days after submitting first documents.

Jumia was founded in 2012 and has gone through metamorphosis. It has operations in about 14 African countries with services across many digital sectors like food delivery, hotel booking, ecommerce marketplace, etc. Nigeria remains the heart of Jumia business. With only 4 million customers across Africa, the private sector unicorn ($1 billion valuation) it was baptized with few years ago, post-MTN investment, may be a tall call in the public market.