French telecom group, Orange announces the acquisition of a 75 million-euro equity interest in Africa Internet Group(AIG), joining AXA, Goldman Sachs and longstanding investors MTN Group, Millicom and Rocket Internet.
Through this investment by Orange Digital Ventures, Orange will help online portal Jumia and other websites run by AIG to accelerate their growth and seize development opportunities in Africa. Orange's investment comes as part of its strategic Essentiels2020 plan to develop digital services in Africa and the Middle East.
Jumia allows businesses to market their products and services online to Africa’s emerging middle class. Other services offered by AIG include an e-commerce marketplace (Kaymu), websites offering food delivery (Hellofood) and hotel booking (Jovago), as well as online classified ads for general merchandise (Vendito), real estate (Lamudi), jobs (Everjobs) and vehicles (Carmudi).
Stephane Richard, Chairman and CEO of Orange
This acquisition is combined with the signature of several important partnership agreements that will create value for all parties. In particular, across the twelve countries where we have a common presence, this investment will enable us to significantly develop our ability to market products and services developed by Orange Middle East & Africa over the Internet.
Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, founders and co-CEOs of Jumia & AIG
We are thrilled by Orange’s equity investment and are eager to translate our strategic partnership into unique offers for our customers. Jumia and our other online consumer services give millions of African consumers an opportunity to access and transact with local companies in a new and very convenient way.
