What Jumia’s $50 million raise says about its path to profitability

Jumia has spent the past three years making its business leaner and cheaper to run, while chasing profitability. Now it has an additional $50 million that can help it reach that goal faster. 
But the capital alone will not make Jumia profitable. The e-commerce company has increasingly been building around cheaper and more relevant supply, higher monetisation, lower fulfilment costs, and tighter fixed costs in recent years.
Jumia, founded in 2012, was burning about $200 million a year by late 2022, triggering a leadership overhaul and a renewed focus on profitability. It has aggressively cut costs while clarifying its identity, exited unprofitable verticals , stopped stocking ca...