Kaymu opened in 35 countries in under three years. In 2016 its African markets became Jumia.
Launched in Nigeria and Pakistan in January 2013, the online marketplace expanded to 35 countries. The business lesson is about breadth, and what happens when a group consolidates.
Kaymu was an online marketplace founded in 2013, modelled on eBay. It did not sell products itself: it ran country-specific websites where buyers and sellers traded new and used items, from fashion to phones and appliances.
Fast expansion
It launched in Nigeria and Pakistan in January 2013 with seed funding from Rocket Internet, grew from 10 to 60 staff in nine months, and opened in Ghana and Morocco in October 2013. Within 27 months it had operations in 32 other countries, and by June 2015 it was in 35, 17 of them in Africa.
Consolidation
In 2016, Kaymu’s African markets were turned into Jumia, and its South Asian markets into Daraz. Daraz now operates in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar.
What it teaches
- Breadth is expensive. Each country needs sellers, buyers, payments and delivery, and each market has its own habits.
- Marketplaces need both sides. A site with few sellers has few buyers, and vice versa, country by country.
- Groups consolidate. Here the African markets were rebranded as Jumia, one platform instead of many country sites under a different name.