LAGOS, AUGUST 1, 2016 – Reports from ecommerce space are that Jumia and Yudala are locked in a battle to acquire Konga Nigeria, a leading online mall.Konga is valued at about $34 million by Kinnevik, a Swedish entrepreneurial investment group focused on building digital consumer brands.
There are no official statements from the companies about the deal but Konga has reportedly reached out after one of the investors reportedly divested from the company.
An insider at Konga said that the company is up for grabs and that the Jumia and Yudala have been approached.
Inside sources at Konga said that Jumia looked the most likely as the latter seek to rival Yudala.
Elsewhere, though Yudala is reportedly eyeing Konga with one eye, it appears reluctant because the two companies are premised on different business models.
While Konga is a purely online market place with only 184,000 active customers; Yudala in just a year of launch has become sub-Saharan African e-commerce market leader, with nearly 1 million active users.
Gideon Ayogu, head coporate communications at Yudala, said he is not aware of his company’s interest in Konga.
Only recently, Konga announced that it will lay off some of its employees, as part of its business development strategy whereby it reviews staff strength every 6 months.
Konga CEO, Shola Adekoya stated that “The restructuring which also entails workforce reduction is a prudent and necessary step for the long term success of the company. The reorganizing will also impact the business model as we continue to do retail but only focus on the products that customers really like with high throughput in the warehouse and that will leave other products to strategic merchants that will take over some of the products in a marketplace fashion.
“By this, Konga will optimize its warehouse and from September will allow merchants to begin to store items in the KONGA warehouse which guarantees quality and ensures quicker shipping times for customers.”
