RISK FACTORS

An investment in our ADSs involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information in this prospectus, including “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes, before deciding to invest in our ADSs. Additional risks not known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected by any of these risks. The trading price and value of our ADSs could decline due to any of these risks, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business, Operations and Financial Position

We have incurred significant losses since inception and there is no guarantee that we will achieve or sustain profitability in the future.

Jumia operates a pan-African e-commerce platform. Our platform consists of our marketplace, which connects businesses with consumers, our logistics service, which enables the shipping and delivery of packages, and our payment service, which facilitates transactions among participants active on our platform. We primarily generate revenue from commissions, where third-party sellers pay us fees based on the goods and services they sell, and from the sale of goods where we act directly as seller. Our revenue is, however, not sufficient to cover our operating expenses. Accordingly, since we were founded in 2012, we have not been profitable on a consolidated basis. We incurred a loss for the year of €165.4 million in 2017 and a loss for the year of €170.4 million in 2018. As of December 31, 2018, we had accumulated losses of €862.0 million.

There is no guarantee that we will generate sufficient revenue in the future to offset the cost of maintaining our platform and maintaining and growing our business. Furthermore, even if we achieve profitability in certain of our more mature markets, where e-commerce is growing rapidly, there is no guarantee that we will be able to break even and achieve profitability in other markets, where e-commerce adoption is slower. We expect that our operating expenses will continue to increase as we intend to expend substantial financial and other resources on acquiring and retaining sellers and consumers, growing and maintaining our technology infrastructure and sales and marketing efforts and conducting general administrative tasks associated with our business, including expenses related to being a public company. These investments may not result in increased revenue growth. If we cannot successfully generate revenue at a rate that exceeds the costs associated with our business, we will not be able to achieve or sustain profitability or generate positive cash flow on a sustained basis and our revenue growth rate may decline.

If we fail to become and remain profitable, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We rely on external financing and may not be able to raise necessary additional capital on economically acceptable terms or at all.

Since our inception, we have had negative operating cash flows and have relied on external financing. For example, on December 18, 2018, we entered into an investment agreement with Pernod Ricard Deutschland GmbH, pursuant to which Pernod Ricard Deutschland GmbH agreed to provide us with additional capital in the amount of €75 million. While we intend to raise significant financial resources through this offering and the Concurrent Private Placement, we may require additional capital to finance our operations and/or growth of our platform in the future. If we are not able to raise the required capital on economically acceptable terms, or at all, or if we fail to project and anticipate our capital needs, we may be forced to limit or scale back our operations, which may adversely affect our growth, business and market share and could ultimately lead to insolvency.

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If we choose to raise capital by issuing new shares, our ability to place such shares at attractive prices, or at all, depends on the condition of equity capital markets in general, the performance of our business and the price of our ADSs in particular, and the price of our ADSs may be subject to considerable fluctuation.

Currently, debt financing from independent third parties is unlikely to be available to us due to our loss making history, negative operating cash flows and lack of significant physical assets and collateral. If debt financing were available, such financing may require us to post collateral in favor of the relevant lenders or impose other restrictions on our business and financial position. Such restrictions may adversely affect our operations and ability to grow our business as intended. A breach of the relevant covenants or other contractual obligations contained in any of our current or future external financing agreements may trigger immediate prepayment obligations or may allow the relevant lenders to seize collateral posted by us, all of which may adversely affect our business. In addition, if we raise capital through debt financing on unfavorable terms, this could adversely affect our operational flexibility and profitability.

An inability to obtain capital on economically acceptable terms, or at all, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our markets pose significant operational challenges that require us to expend substantial financial resources.

We operate in emerging markets in Africa. While we believe that our markets offer opportunities for an e-commerce company, they are also characterized by fragmented and largely underdeveloped logistics, delivery, and digital payment landscapes, which can differ significantly in the consumer markets in which we operate. This underdeveloped infrastructure restricts and complicates the movement of people and goods, which may make our delivery service too expensive or our delivery times too long to effectively compete with offline stores, in particular outside of main urban centers. Underdeveloped infrastructure may also limit our growth prospects by obstructing access to potential consumers. Lack of an established, secure and convenient cashless payment system in many markets also poses significant challenges for sellers. From our experience, we believe that a large percentage of our consumers either do not have a bank account or do not trust online payments, which is why cash on delivery is still the preferred payment method used by our consumers.

In order to overcome the challenges posed by our markets, we have had to develop significant logistics, delivery and payment infrastructures, which include, for example, the operation of warehouses and drop-off centers, the integration of third-party logistics providers, the establishment of our own delivery and last-mile delivery fleet in certain cities, the design of our independent technology platform and the provision of unconventional payment options. These factors make our operations more complex than those of similar businesses in more developed markets and may place a higher risk on us, for example, due to a higher number of failed orders, the risk of fraud or otherwise. The costs incurred by us to meet these challenges have, and may continue to, put a strain on our financial resources, may be unjustified in light of the benefits they bring us and may make it challenging for us to reach profitability. In particular, there is no guarantee that the markets in which we currently operate will prove to be as attractive as we currently believe them to be, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Many of our countries of operation are, or have been, characterized by political instability or changes in regulatory or other government policies.

Frequent and intense periods of political instability make it difficult to predict future trends in governmental policies. For example, the Arab Spring of 2010 and 2011 caused substantial political turmoil across the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in Egypt. During this period of instability in Egypt, the government temporarily dissolved the parliament, suspended the constitution and shut down the internet. As we were founded only in 2012, this temporary shut-down of the internet did not affect us. Any similar shut-down in the future will, however, negatively affect our business and results of operations. In addition, if government or regulatory

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policies in a market in which we operate were to change or become less business-friendly, our business could be adversely affected.

Governments in Africa frequently intervene in the economies of their respective countries and occasionally make significant changes in policy and regulations. Governmental actions have often involved, among other measures, nationalizations and expropriations, price controls, currency devaluations, mandatory increases on wages and employee benefits, capital controls and limits on imports. Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by changes in government policies or regulations, including such factors as exchange rates and exchange control policies, inflation control policies, price control policies, consumer protection policies, import duties and restrictions, liquidity of domestic capital and lending markets, electricity rationing, tax policies, including tax increases and retroactive tax claims, and other political, diplomatic, social and economic developments in or affecting the countries where we operate. For example, the Central Bank of Nigeria requires foreign investors to obtain a certificate of capital importation (“CCI”) to be able to repatriate imported funds and related proceeds via the Nigerian foreign exchange market. Jumia has transferred about €114 million into Nigeria. While Jumia has obtained valid CCIs for approximately €40 million, Jumia currently does not hold CCIs for the remaining amount. Jumia currently does not anticipate any need to repatriate funds from Nigeria for the next 3 to 5 years. In the meantime, Jumia intends to work with the Nigerian authorities to obtain the additional CCIs that would allow Jumia to repatriate these funds and related proceeds. However, there can be no assurance that Jumia will be successful in obtaining these certificates. Any failure to obtain the required certificates could impact Jumia’s ability to repatriate these funds and related proceeds or the exchange rate at which a repatriation could be effected.

In the future, the level of intervention by African governments may continue to increase. These or other measures could have a material adverse effect on the economy of the countries in which we operate and, consequently, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business may be materially and adversely affected by an economic slowdown in any region of Africa.

The success of our business depends on consumer spending. While we believe that economic conditions in Africa will improve, poverty in Africa will decline and the purchasing power of African consumers will increase in the long term, there can be no assurance that these expected developments will actually materialize. The development of African economies, markets and levels of consumer spending are influenced by many factors beyond our control, including consumer perception of current and future economic conditions, political uncertainty, employment levels, inflation or deflation, real disposable income, poverty rates, wealth distribution, interest rates, taxation, currency exchange rates and weather conditions. For example, a collapse in oil prices in early 2016 placed pressure on Nigeria’s currency, causing a currency shortage and threatening substantial inflation. Many of our sellers in Nigeria had to scale back imports and were unable to meet consumer demand for their products. Consumer spending also declined in the face of significant price increases. As our operations in Nigeria and Egypt generate a larger portion of our GMV than any other country in which we currently operate, adverse economic developments in Nigeria or Egypt could have a greater impact on our results than a similar downturn in other countries.

In addition, the outbreak of diseases or epidemics in any of the markets in which we operate could negatively impact levels of economic activity and depress consumer demand. Furthermore, in some of the countries in which we operate, local banks have faced liquidity and funding issues and may face such issues in the future, which could lead to bank failures or systemic collapse potentially resulting in an economic slowdown in the particular region.

An economic downturn, whether actual or perceived, currency volatility, a decrease in economic growth rates or an otherwise uncertain economic outlook in Nigeria, Egypt or any region of Africa could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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Currency volatility and inflation may materially adversely affect our business.

Third-party sellers and consumers transact on our marketplace in local currency. The economies of a number of the African countries in which we operate are affected by high currency exchange rate volatility due to, among other things, inflation, selective tariff barriers, raw material prices, current account balances and widespread corruption and political uncertainty. For example, the annual inflation rate in Egypt increased to 14.2% in August 2018 from 13.5% in July 2018. However, year over year inflation has decreased dramatically since July 2017 when it was over 30%. The inflation rate in Nigeria also increased to 11.2% in August 2018 from 11.1% in July 2018, while decreasing year over year from 16% in July 2017. The highest ever inflation rate in Nigeria was 47.6%. Currency volatility and high inflation in any of the countries in which we operate could increase the cost of goods to our third-party sellers while decreasing the purchasing power of our consumers. If sellers are unable to pass along price increases to consumers, we could lose sellers from our marketplace. Similarly, if consumers are unwilling to pay higher prices, we could lose consumers.

The occurrence of any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Uncertainties with respect to the legal system in certain African markets could adversely affect us.

Legal systems in Africa vary significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Many countries in Africa have not yet developed a fully integrated legal system, and recently-enacted laws and regulations may not sufficiently cover all aspects of economic activities in such markets. In particular, the interpretation and enforcement of these laws and regulations involve uncertainties. Since local administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory provisions and contractual terms, it may be difficult to predict the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and our level of legal protection in many of our markets. Moreover, local courts may have broad discretion to reject enforcement of foreign awards. These uncertainties may affect our ability to enforce our contractual rights or other claims. Uncertainty regarding inconsistent regulatory and legal systems may also embolden plaintiffs to exploit such uncertainties through unmerited or frivolous legal actions or threats in attempts to extract payments or benefits from us.

Many African legal systems are based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis, or at all, and may have retroactive effect. There are other circumstances where key regulatory definitions are unclear, imprecise or missing, or where interpretations that are adopted by regulators are inconsistent with interpretations adopted by a court in analogous cases. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of certain policies and rules until after the violation. In addition, any administrative and court proceedings in Africa may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and the diversion of resources and management attention.

It is possible that a number of laws and regulations may be adopted or construed to apply to us in Africa and elsewhere that could restrict our business. Scrutiny and regulation of the industries in which we operate may further increase, and we may be required to devote additional legal and other resources to addressing such regulation. Changes in current laws or regulations or the imposition of new laws and regulations in our markets or elsewhere regarding e-commerce may slow our growth and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and prospects.

Our business may be materially and adversely affected by violent crime or terrorism in any region of Africa.

Many of the markets in which we operate suffer from a high incidence in violent crime and terrorism, which may harm our business. Violent crime has the potential to interfere with our delivery and fulfillment operations, in particular, given the fact that a high proportion of transactions on our marketplace are settled in cash. Our warehouses may also be targets of criminal acts. For example, in late 2018, we experienced an isolated incident in which our warehouse in Kenya was robbed, and merchandise with a value of approximately €500,000 was stolen.

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Further, the terrorist attacks of Boko Haram have created considerable economic instability in northeastern Nigeria for nearly a decade. Although it is difficult to quantify the economic effect of Boko Haram’s terrorist activities, countless markets, shops, and schools have been temporarily or permanently closed over the years out of fear of coordinated attacks. In some of the areas most devastated by terrorism, commercial banks have chosen to remain open for only three hours per day. Many Nigerians have also chosen to migrate to from the north to the south, or out of the country altogether. If Boko Haram’s terrorist activities were to spread throughout Nigeria, the increasing violence could have material adverse effects on the Nigerian economy. More recently, a terrorist attack in Nairobi in January 2019 by Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab drew increased attention to the risks of destabilization in Kenya. An increase in violent crime or terrorism in any region of Africa may interfere with deliveries, discourage economic activity, weaken consumer confidence, diminish consumer purchasing power or cause harm to our sellers and consumers in other ways, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and prospects.

Growth of our business depends on an increase in internet penetration in Africa.

Our business model relies on an increase in internet penetration and digital literacy in Africa. Even though the main urban centers of Africa typically offer reliable wired internet service, a substantial portion of the population are inhabitants of rural areas, which largely depend on mobile networks. Internet penetration in the markets in which we operate may not reach the levels seen in more developed countries for reasons that are beyond our control, including the lack of necessary network infrastructure or delayed implementation of performance improvements or security measures. The internet infrastructure in the markets in which we operate may not be able to support continued growth in the number of users, their frequency of use or their bandwidth requirements. Delays in telecommunication and infrastructure development or other technology shortfalls may also impede improvements in internet reliability. If telecommunications services are not sufficiently available to support the growth of the internet, response times could be slower, which would reduce internet usage and harm our platform. Internet penetration may decline if providers become insolvent or decide to exit a specific country. The price of personal computers, mobile devices and internet access, particularly with respect to mobile data rates, may also limit the growth of internet penetration in the markets in which we operate. Accordingly, there is no guarantee that internet penetration rates, and in particular, mobile internet penetration rates, will continue to grow as we anticipate. Internet penetration in our target markets may even stagnate or decline. In addition, digital illiteracy among many consumers and vendors in Africa presents obstacles to e-commerce growth.

If internet penetration and digital literacy do not increase in our markets of operation, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business model depends on the continued growth of e-commerce in the markets in which we currently operate.

Our business model relies on the continued growth of the internet as a platform for online consumer transactions in Africa. Rapid growth in the use of and interest in the internet, particularly as a way to conduct commerce, is a recent phenomenon, and there can be no assurance that this acceptance and use will continue to exist or develop. To grow our user base successfully, consumers who have historically used traditional means of commerce to purchase goods and services must accept and use new ways of conducting business and exchanging information and funds online.

The continued growth of e-commerce will depend on a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control, including, the establishment and extension of broadband access, the popularity of smartphones and other mobile devices, the cost of internet access and mobile data, the trust and confidence level of e-commerce sellers and consumers, and changes in demographics and consumer tastes and preferences. Even if internet penetration rates increase, physical retail or face-to-face transactions may remain the predominant form of commerce in our markets due to, among other factors, a lack of trust and confidence in e-commerce offerings. In 2018, e-commerce represented less than 1% of retail sales transaction value for countries measured in our footprint in Africa, compared to nearly 14% in the United States and nearly 24% in China, according to Euromonitor. There

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is no guarantee that consumers will adapt to the use of the internet for consumer transactions on the scale we anticipate. Several companies that operate e-commerce websites have been successful and profitable in the past; however, we operate in a business environment that is different from other e-commerce companies operating outside of Africa. Therefore, you should not interpret the success of any of these companies as indicative of our financial prospects.

A failure of e-commerce to continue to grow as we anticipate in the markets in which we operate could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We face competition, which may intensify.

As the e-commerce business model is relatively new in the markets in which we operate, competition for market share may intensify significantly. Current competitors, such as Souq.com in Egypt, which is a company affiliated with Amazon, Konga in Nigeria or Takealot and Superbalist, which are both part of the Naspers group, in South Africa, may seek to intensify their investments in those markets and also expand their businesses in new markets. Some of our competitors currently copy our marketing campaigns, and such competitors may undertake more far reaching marketing events or adopt more aggressive pricing policies, all of which could adversely impact our competitive position. We also compete with a large and fragmented group of offline retailers, such as traditional brick-and-mortar retailers and market traders, in each of the markets in which we operate. In addition, new competitors may emerge, or global e-commerce companies, such as Amazon or Alibaba, may choose to enter into, or expand across, our markets, and such competitors may have greater access to financial, technological and marketing resources than we do. We also face competition from transactions taking place through other platforms, including via social media sites such as Facebook groups.

Competitive pressure from current or future competitors or our failure to quickly and effectively adapt to a changing competitive landscape could adversely affect demand for the goods available on our marketplace and could thereby adversely affect our growth. Given the early stage of the e-commerce industry in the markets in which we operate, the share of goods sold and purchased via e-commerce may be small and loyalty of sellers and consumers may therefore be low. Current or future competitors may offer lower commissions to sellers than we do, and we may be forced to lower commissions in order to maintain our market share.

With respect to our payment service, we face competition from financial institutions with payment processing offerings, debit and credit card service providers, other offline payment options and other electronic payment system operators, in each of the markets in which we operate. We expect competition to intensify in the future as existing and new competitors may introduce new services or enhance existing services. New entrants tied to established brands may engender greater user confidence in the safety and efficacy of their services.

If we fail to compete effectively, we may lose existing sellers or consumers and fail to attract new sellers or consumers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we are unable to adapt to changes in our industry or successfully launch and monetize new and innovative technologies, our growth and profitability could be adversely affected.

The internet and e-commerce industry is characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, new product and service introductions and changing consumer demand. Despite our investment of significant resources in developing our infrastructure, such as our logistics service, changes and developments in our industry may require us to re-evaluate our business model and significantly modify our long-term strategies and business plan.

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We constantly seek to develop new and innovative technologies, such as our payment services. Our ability to monetize these technologies and other new business lines in a timely manner and operate them profitably depends on a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

We may not be able to grow our new technologies or operate them profitably, and these new and innovative technology initiatives may never generate material revenue. In addition, our technology development requires substantial management time and resources, which may result in disruptions to our existing business operations and adversely affect our financial condition, which may decrease our profitability and growth.

We may not be able to maintain our existing partnerships, strategic alliances or other business relationships or enter into new ones. We may have limited control over such relationships, and these relationships may not provide the anticipated benefits.

We partner with numerous third parties. For example, our current shareholders Pernod Ricard Deutschland GmbH, Mobile Telephone Networks Holdings Limited, Millicom International Cellular S.A., Atlas Countries Support S.A. and AXA Africa Holding S.A.S. or affiliates of our current shareholders cooperate with us by selling their goods on our marketplace and helping us to promote our marketplace via their goods and distribution channels. More than 100 logistics providers are integrated into our logistics service and help us and our sellers deliver goods to consumers. We have also partnered with banks and other payment providers in connection with our payment services.

Our current shareholders who have entered into partnerships with us are still free to compete with us, and it is possible that they may choose to do so. If any of our current shareholders begin to sell their shares after the completion of this offering and the expiration of the lock-up provisions described in “Underwriters” section herein, maintaining their current partnerships with us may become less attractive and their appetite for competition may grow. Such partners may decide to discontinue their partnerships with us or may only be willing to continue their partnerships with us on significantly less attractive terms.

We also may pursue and enter into new strategic relationships in the future. Such relationships involve risks, including but not limited to: maintaining good working relationships with the other party, any economic or business interests of the other party that are inconsistent with ours, the other party’s failure to fund its share of capital for operations or to fulfill its other commitments, including providing accurate and timely accounting and financial information to us, which could negatively impact our operating results, loss of key personnel, actions taken by our strategic partners that may not be compliant with applicable rules, regulations and laws, reputational concerns regarding our partners or our leadership that may be imputed to us, bankruptcy, requiring us to assume all risks and capital requirements related to the relationship, and the related bankruptcy proceedings could have

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an adverse impact on the relationship, and any actions arising out of the relationship that may result in reputational harm or legal exposure to us. Further, these relationships may not deliver the benefits that were originally anticipated.

Any of these factors may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The continued growth of our business depends on several external factors, some of which are beyond our control, and there is no guarantee that we can maintain our historical growth rates.

Since our founding in 2012, we have experienced significant growth in GMV and revenue. There can be no assurance that our growth will be sustainable and that we will continue to experience growth in the future. We anticipate that our relative growth rate will decline over time as we achieve higher market penetration rates. Slowing growth rates mean that our business performance will become increasingly dependent on our ability to, among other things, use our operating leverage, increase our fulfillment efficiencies and decrease marketing costs in relation to our revenue. In addition, a shift in the relative proportion of first-party sales to third-party sales may significantly and negatively affect any reported revenue growth and could even lead to a decline in reported revenue.

The growth of our business and revenue is dependent on our ability to both retain existing and add new sellers, which we may not be able to continue to do at historic rates and acquisition costs, or at all. As we scale our business, we face the risk that our current sellers may not successfully increase their offers to keep up with increasing consumer demand, which may require us to increase our first-party sales. While any such increase would lead to a significant increase in revenue, our profit margins could be negatively affected, as we have historically recorded lower profit margins on first-party sales than on third-party sales. Alternatively, we could select and onboard new local or international sellers to keep up with the increasing consumer demand; however, doing so might prove more difficult than expected or we may not be able to onboard new sellers at all. Furthermore, if we onboard too many international sellers, we risk alienating local sellers which would compound supply issues. Similarly, we risk alienating small, local sellers as our company grows and we provide increasing exposure to larger sellers who can more easily adapt pricing strategies and product offerings to meet the needs of consumers.

We also face the risk of losing sellers due to seller insolvency. If any of our current sellers were to become insolvent, they would no longer be able to offer products on our marketplace. Additionally, they may not be able to fulfill open orders and deliver products as promised. Furthermore, if we pay a seller before such seller fulfills its obligations to our consumers, we may be unable to recover from such a seller any funds paid for undelivered items, for example if the seller becomes insolvent.

Our business growth and revenue may also be affected if we are unsuccessful in retaining our current consumer base or adding new consumers. Any decrease in the number of Active Sellers and product offerings could lead to a corresponding decrease in Active Consumers. Additionally, the costs of consumer retention may increase for various reasons, which could negatively affect our revenue. Our expansion into new markets may place us in unfamiliar competitive environments or may require us to invest significant resources, and there is no assurance that returns on such investments will be achieved.

The occurrence of any of the risks described above could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not be able to manage future growth efficiently, which may adversely affect our business.

We aim to continue to grow our business and our leadership in the markets in which we operate. If we succeed in significantly increasing the number of our Active Consumers, we will be required to further expand

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and improve our marketplace, technology systems, fulfillment infrastructure and consumer support, which we may not achieve in a timely and cost-effective manner. If we are unable to successfully manage future growth, consumer satisfaction and our reputation may be negatively affected.

Growth of our business may also place significant demands on our management and key employees, as expansion will increase the complexity of our business and place a significant strain on our management, operations, technical systems, financial resources and internal control over financial reporting functions. Our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures and controls may not be adequate to support and effectively manage our future operations, especially as we employ personnel in numerous geographic locations. Our ability to hire a sufficient number of new employees for our expanding operations depends on the overall availability of qualified employees, and our ability to offer them sufficiently attractive employment terms compared to other employers. Functional experts such as technology experts and compliance specialists are particularly hard to recruit and retain in the markets in which we operate.

If we experience significant future growth, we may be required not only to make additional investments in our platform and workforce, but also to expand our relationships with various partners and other third parties with whom we do business, such as third-party carriers, and to expend time and effort to integrate such parties into our operations. The expansion of our business could exceed the capacities of our partners and other third parties willing to do business with us, and if they are unable to keep up with our growth, our operations could be adversely affected.

Any failure to meet such challenges may lead to an increase in the risk of disruptions and compliance violations, could adversely affect our profitability, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not be able to maintain or improve the network effects of our platform, which could negatively affect our business and prospects.

Our ability to maintain or improve our platform around our marketplace, logistics and payment services is critical to our success. The extent to which we are able to maintain or strengthen these network effects depends on our ability to execute a number of challenging tasks, including:

In addition, changes we may make to enhance and improve our platform may be viewed positively from one participant group’s perspective and negatively from another group’s perspective.

If we fail to maintain or improve our platform by balancing the interests of all participants, sellers, consumers or other participants may stop visiting our marketplace, conduct fewer transactions on our marketplace or use alternative platforms, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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We may be unable to maintain and expand our relationships with sellers or to find additional sellers for our marketplace.

Our seller network consisted of 81 thousand Active Sellers as of December 31, 2018, who range from small merchants and artisans to larger corporations. If we fail to maintain and expand our existing relationships or to build new relationships with sellers on acceptable commercial terms, we will not be able to maintain and expand our broad product and service offering, which could adversely affect our business.

In order to maintain and expand our relationships with our current sellers and to attract additional quality sellers, we need, among other factors, to:

If we fail to maintain an attractive mix of sellers or fail to find quality sellers of attractive goods, if such sellers refuse to use our platform or if we do not manage these relationships efficiently, we may not be able to grow as anticipated, which could adversely affect our business. Our competitors may seek to enter into exclusivity agreements with certain sellers and thereby prevent us from partnering with such sellers. Competitors or retailers may encourage manufacturers to limit distribution to sellers who sell through us.

Our policy is to delist any goods or sellers who repeatedly fail to meet our performance standards (e.g., product quality, environmental compliance and labor relations standards), which may lead to a significant reduction of Active Sellers on our marketplace. Furthermore, sellers may decide to cease cooperating with us, discontinue their operations, or may face financial distress or other business disruptions. As a result, we may not be able to maintain and expand our product offering and may consequently lose consumers to competitors with a larger seller base.

An inability to find, engage and retain the right sellers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may fail to maintain or grow the size of our consumer base or the level of engagement of our consumers.

The size and engagement level of our consumer base are critical to our success. Our business and financial performance have been and will continue to be significantly determined by our success in adding, retaining, and engaging Active Consumers. We continue to invest significant resources to grow our consumer base and increase participant engagement, whether through innovation, providing new or improved goods or services, marketing efforts or other means. While our consumer base has expanded significantly, we cannot assure you that our consumer base and engagement levels will continue growing at satisfactory rates, or at all. Our consumer growth and engagement could be adversely affected if, among other things:

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Our efforts to avoid or address any of these events could require us to make substantial expenditures to modify or adapt our services or platform. If we fail to retain or grow our participant base, or if our users reduce their engagement with our platform, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Sellers set their own prices and decide which goods they make available on our marketplace, which could affect our ability to respond to consumer preferences and trends.

We do not control the portfolio or pricing strategies of our sellers, which could affect our ability to effectively compete on the breadth of our product assortment or on price with the other distribution channels. Our sellers may be unaware of consumer preferences and trends and fail to offer the products our consumers prefer. Additionally, our sellers may employ different pricing strategies based on the geographical location of consumers, which could lead consumers to seek for more competitively priced products on other distribution channels. Our sellers may also engage in fictitious pricing, an advertising tactic wherein sellers exaggerate the level of discounts provided on certain products by comparing the discount price to a prior-reference price at which the product was never really offered for sale. Such tactics, if perpetrated by our sellers, may alienate consumers from our marketplace and harm our reputation. Moreover, sellers that are prevented from engaging in fictitious pricing on our marketplace may choose to list their goods on other channels instead of our marketplace, which could also result in a loss of consumers.

If consumers are unable to purchase their preferred products at competitive prices on our marketplace, they may choose to purchase products elsewhere, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In order to offer our consumers an attractive product mix, we may be required to find sellers abroad or to engage in selling goods ourselves.

The more attractive the product mix on our marketplace, the more consumers visit our marketplace and order from our sellers. However, there can be no assurance that our sellers will offer a product mix that is attractive to our consumers. If we identify gaps in the product offering on our marketplace, we either seek to have sellers from abroad, such as China, offer their goods on our marketplace or, in some cases, decide to sell goods ourselves. Sellers from abroad may, however, only be interested in listing goods with a high value, as low value goods may not allow them to recover the costs incurred for sales over our marketplace. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that sellers from abroad will not face issues with import restrictions or delays in obtaining required customs clearances. As a growing percentage of our revenue stems from cross-border sales, future import restrictions or delays in obtaining required customs clearances, in particular with respect to goods imported from China, may have a material adverse effect on our revenue.

Where we engage directly in selling goods, we take on inventory risk. Although many of our inventory-related systems are automated, some internal processes at our warehouses are handled manually, which may result in errors. Consumer preferences regarding price, quality and design of certain goods may change rapidly, making it difficult to accurately forecast future demand. If we fail to correctly anticipate the demand, we may not be able to avoid overstocking or understocking certain goods. If we underestimate demand, this may result in a

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loss of consumers who are unsatisfied with our delivery times. If we overestimate demand, we may experience excess inventories and may ultimately be forced to record losses for write-offs on inventory. In order to sell such excess inventories, we may choose to sell goods at significant discounts, which may adversely affect our profit margins and the level of prices we can demand for other goods, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We face challenges with failed deliveries, excessive returns, late collections, unrecoverable receivables and voucher abuse, which may materially and adversely affect our business and prospects.

We typically provide our consumers with the option to pay cash on delivery. Many of our consumers choose this option, including those who do not have a bank account and those who do not trust online payments. In situations where the consumer elects to pay cash on delivery, he/she must be present at home in order to provide payment at the time of delivery; otherwise, the delivery will fail. However, there is no guarantee that our consumers will actually be present at scheduled delivery locations at the scheduled delivery times. If a consumer is not present, we schedule a new delivery time. We typically make three delivery attempts, and if all of these attempts fail, we return the product to the seller. If there is a failed delivery, we are required to notify the seller within 21 days of when the package was shipped. If we do not notify the seller within this timeframe, we must take possession of the item and accept the loss as a result of the failed delivery.

Even if the product is successfully delivered to the consumer and delivery is verified, most of our sellers are required, either by local regulations or by our operating standards, to allow consumers to return goods within a certain period of time after delivery. For example, in Egypt, which is one of our largest markets, consumers have a legal right to return any product within fourteen days after delivery so long as the product is in the same condition as when delivered. Furthermore, if our sellers offer more consumer friendly return policies, the number of returns may increase, which could adversely affect our business. In 2018, orders accounting for 14.4% of our GMV were either failed deliveries or returned by our consumers. We also utilize an algorithm that determines, based upon a number of factors, whether a consumer will receive a refund for a returned item. In some instances, the algorithm might make a refund determination before our after-sales team is able to review and process the refund. Any mistakes or errors in the algorithm could result in mistaken refunds, which in turn could result in loss of sales.

We also face the risk that third-party delivery agents might misappropriate inventory, and we struggle to verify delivery when our third-party delivery partners deliver packages without obtaining consumer signatures. When goods are delivered without verification, we may be required to deliver a duplicate product. When a third-party delivery agent successfully delivers a product and accepts cash payment from the consumer, we face the additional risks of late collections (in the event that the third-party delivery agent does not remit the funds to us on time) or unrecoverable receivables (in the event that the third-party delivery agent commits fraud or becomes insolvent). These risks are particularly acute in countries where the percentage of outsourced deliveries remains high. For example, in Kenya, where approximately 95% of our consumers paid in cash or with cash equivalents on delivery in 2016, we discovered in early 2018 that €720 thousand of cash payments remained uncollected in 2016, the large majority of which was never subsequently collected. The extent of the effect on our cash flows in 2016 was due to our previous use of an insufficient cash reconciliation system, which has now been replaced with an automated system that allows us to monitor transactions in each of our markets on a daily basis. Even though we have taken measures to reduce the risks of fraud and uncollected receivables, these risks – whether facilitated by our employees, sellers, partners or consumers – remain, due largely to the prevalence of cash on delivery in many of our markets.

In certain markets, we also offer guarantees in the event that a damaged or defective product is delivered. In Kenya, for example, we recently announced a three-month guarantee on all marketplace products valued above KES 1,500 (approximately €13 as of February 6, 2019), except for consumer goods and beauty and fashion items. This guarantee covers products with manufacturing defects, as well as counterfeit and incorrectly delivered items. Although we instituted this guarantee in an effort to increase consumer satisfaction, consumers

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may abuse our guarantee policy which could harm our business. Additionally, we seek to increase consumer satisfaction across all markets by offering apology vouchers to our consumers on a case-by-case basis in the event of a failed or incorrect delivery. However, we have experienced an increase in the incidence of fraud and voucher abuse wherein account owners have managed to receive duplicate apology vouchers for the same transaction.

A significant increase in failed deliveries, excessive or mistaken returns, late collections, unrecoverable receivables or voucher abuse – due to increased fraud, changing consumer behavior, consumer dissatisfaction with our goods or consumer service, or otherwise – may force us to allocate additional resources to mitigating these issues, may force us to waive our commission fees and may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be subject to allegations and lawsuits concerning the content of our platform or claiming that items listed on our marketplace are counterfeit, pirated or illegal.

We operate a marketplace where sellers can offer their goods and directly contact our consumers. Consumers or regulatory authorities may allege that items offered or sold through our marketplace infringe third-party copyrights, trademarks and patents or other intellectual property rights, are pirated or illegal or violate consumer protection laws or regulations. While we have adopted certain measures to verify the authenticity of goods sold on our marketplaces (for example, content verification for new sellers or for sellers who sell goods at prices that seem too low for genuine goods) to minimize potential violations and/or infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, these measures may not always be successful.

When we receive complaints or allegations regarding infringement or counterfeit, pirated or illegal goods, we follow certain procedures to verify the nature of the complaint and the relevant facts in order to be able to determine the appropriate action, which may include removal of the item from our marketplace and, in certain cases, discontinuing our relationship with a seller who repeatedly violates our policies. For example, we do not allow the listing and sale of prescription medication on our marketplace. We delist any seller who does not comply with this policy. We believe these procedures are important to ensure confidence in our marketplace among sellers and consumers. However, these procedures could result in the delay of de-listing of allegedly infringing goods and may not effectively reduce or eliminate our liability. In particular, we may be subject to civil or criminal liability for unlawful activities carried out, including goods listed, by third parties on our platform.

In the event that alleged counterfeit, pirated, illegal or infringing goods are listed or sold on our marketplace, we could face claims for such listings, sales or alleged infringement or for our failure to act in a timely or effective manner to restrict or limit such sales or infringement. For example, in January 2017, the Consumer Protection Agency in Egypt investigated the sale of unlisted drugs on our platform. As a result of this investigation, we were fined €5,000. Regardless of the validity of any claims made against us, we may incur significant costs and efforts to defend against or settle such claims. If a governmental authority determines that we have aided and abetted the infringement or sale of counterfeit, pirated or illegal goods, we could face regulatory, civil or criminal penalties. Successful claims by third-party rights owners could require us to pay substantial damages or refrain from permitting any further listing of the relevant items. These types of claims could force us to modify our business practices and implement further measures in an effort to protect against these potential liabilities, which could lower our revenue, increase our costs or make our platform less attractive and user-friendly. Sellers whose content is removed or services are suspended or terminated by us, regardless of our compliance with the applicable laws, rules and regulations, may dispute our actions and commence action against us for damages based on breach of contract or other causes of action or make public complaints or allegations. Any costs incurred as a result of liability or asserted liability relating to the sale of unlawful goods or other infringement could harm our business.

In addition, the public perception that counterfeit, pirated or illegal items are commonplace on our marketplace or perceived delays in our removal of these items, even if factually incorrect, could damage our

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reputation, result in lower list prices for goods sold through our marketplaces, harm our business, result in regulatory pressure or action against us and diminish the value of our brand.

The materialization of any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Harmful goods, product defects and product recalls could adversely affect our business and reputation.

As the goods offered through our marketplace are manufactured by third parties, we have only limited control over the quality of these goods. We cannot always effectively prevent our sellers from selling harmful or defective goods, which could cause death, disease or injury to our consumers or damage their property. We may be seen as having facilitated the sale of such goods and may be forced to recall such goods. Where we act directly as seller, we may also have to recall harmful goods. In all of these cases, we may not be able to avoid product liability claims and/or administrative fines or criminal charges against us. There is no guarantee that we will be adequately insured against such risks or that we will be able to take recourse against the sellers or suppliers from whom we sourced these goods, in particular if the seller or supplier is located in a foreign country where enforcement of our rights may be difficult, such as China, or does not have sufficient capital to indemnify us. In addition, any negative publicity resulting from product recalls or the assertion that we sold defective goods could damage our brand and reputation.

The sale of harmful or defective goods and product recalls could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Failure to deal effectively with any fraud perpetrated and fictitious transactions conducted on our platform could harm our business.

We face risks with respect to fraudulent activities on our platform. Given the countries in which we operate, the number of participants on our platform and the fragmentation of our business, it is a challenge to anticipate, detect and address fraudulent activities. Although we have implemented various measures to detect and reduce the occurrence of fraudulent activities on our platform, there can be no assurance that such measures will be effective in combating fraudulent transactions or improving overall satisfaction among sellers, consumers and other participants. Additional measures that we take to address fraud could also negatively affect the attractiveness of our platform to sellers or consumers.

For example, we may receive complaints from consumers who may not have received goods that they had purchased, or complaints from sellers who have not received payment for the goods ordered. In addition to fraudulent transactions with legitimate consumers, sellers may also engage in fictitious or “phantom” transactions with themselves or collaborators in order to artificially inflate their own ratings on our marketplace, reputation and search results rankings. This activity may harm other sellers by enabling the perpetrating seller to be favored over legitimate sellers and may harm consumers by deceiving them into believing that a seller is more reliable or trusted than the seller actually is. Recently, we also received information alleging that a seller in Morocco bribed one of our employees in order to receive favorable marketing treatment. In addition, we recently received information alleging that some of our independent sales consultants, members of our JForce program in Nigeria, may have engaged in fraudulent activities. We are currently investigating these allegations and are unable to determine their accuracy and/or the potential scope of fraud, if any.

In addition to seller fraud, we face the risk of fraud perpetrated directly by our consumers. For example, a group of consumers in Kenya fraudulently used electronic payment suppliers to acquire approximately €550,000 in goods on our marketplace in December 2017. Consumer fraud may harm seller confidence in the integrity of our marketplace and the certainty of payment.

Illegal, fraudulent or collusive activities by our employees could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and could subject us to liability or negative

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publicity. While we have not experienced any material events of this nature in the past, we have identified allegations of employee misconduct, which led us to improve our internal controls and our cash reconciliation system. We routinely monitor our internal controls, processes and procedures at a country and group level, but we can provide no assurances that such controls, processes and procedures will prove effective. Any illegal, fraudulent or collusive activity conducted by our employees could adversely affect our profitability and could severely damage our brand and reputation as an operator of a trusted marketplace, which could drive sellers, consumers and other participants away from our marketplace.

Negative publicity and consumer sentiment generated as a result of actual or alleged fraudulent or deceptive conduct on our platform or by our employees could severely diminish consumer confidence in us and in our services, reduce our ability to attract new or retain current consumers, sellers and other participants, discourage banks and card issuers from allowing their payment instruments to be used to conduct transactions on our platform, damage our reputation and diminish the value of our brand, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be subject to chargeback and refund liability if our sellers refuse to or are unable to reimburse chargebacks or refunds resolved in favor of their consumers.

We face risks associated with chargebacks and refunds in connection with payment card fraud or relating to the goods or services provided by sellers on our marketplace. When a billing dispute between a cardholder and a seller is resolved in favor of the cardholder, including in instances of fraudulent seller activity, the transaction is typically “charged back” to the seller and the purchase price is credited or otherwise refunded to the cardholder. If we are unable to collect chargebacks or refunds from the seller’s account, or if the seller refuses to or is unable to reimburse us for chargebacks or refund due to closure, insolvency, or other reasons, we may be responsible for the amount refunded to the cardholder. Our financial results would be adversely affected to the extent that sellers do not fully reimburse us for the related chargebacks. Additionally, chargebacks occur more frequently with online transactions than with in-person transactions. Any increase in chargebacks or refunds not paid by our sellers may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We depend on third-party carriers as part of our fulfillment process.

We depend on the services of third-party carriers for the delivery of a large number of goods to our warehouses and subsequently to the distribution centers of third-party carriers and from there to our consumers. Even where goods do not enter our warehouses, these goods are handled by third-party carriers who directly receive them from sellers.

Consequently, we have only limited control over the timing of deliveries and the security and quality of the goods while they are being transported. Consumers may experience shipping delays due to inclement weather, natural disasters, employment strikes or terrorism, and/or goods may be damaged or lost in transit. If goods are of a poor quality or damaged or lost in transit, not delivered in a timely manner, or if we are not able to provide adequate consumer support, our consumers may become dissatisfied and cease buying their goods through our marketplace.

It may be difficult to replace any of our current third-party carriers due to a lack of alternative offerings at comparable prices and/or service quality in the relevant geographic area. Given the infrastructure deficiencies in the markets in which we currently operate, experienced and highly qualified third-party carriers are in increasing demand and accordingly, have only limited capacities. As a result, competition for delivery capacities may intensify even further. In addition, our carriers may increase their prices, which would adversely affect our results. Furthermore, as we continue to grow, our existing carriers may be unable to keep up with such growth, and we may have to contract additional carriers. There is no guarantee that their services and prices will be satisfactory to us or our consumers. An inability to maintain and expand a network of high-quality third-party

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carriers at attractive costs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may fail to maintain or expand our logistics capabilities.

The successful operation and expansion of our logistics service is crucial to maintain and enhance consumer satisfaction and to our business and continued growth.

Our warehouses handle a number of functions, including inbound freight, storage, packaging, outbound freight, and handling of returns. These processes are complex and depend on sophisticated know-how and technological infrastructure. Any failure or disruption of our logistics, including due to software malfunctions, inability to renew leases for existing offices or warehouses, theft from or disruptions to the processes within our warehouses, labor strikes, fires, natural disasters, acts of terrorism, vandalism or sabotage could adversely affect our ability deliver goods ordered via our marketplace in a timely manner, increase our logistics costs and harm our reputation.

Furthermore, delivery times for our goods vary due to a variety of factors such as relevant goods, stock levels, location of warehouses from which goods are shipped, speed of our sellers, number of goods included in the relevant order, country in which sellers and consumers are located and the speed of third-party carriers. Consumers may expect faster delivery times and more convenient deliveries than we can provide. If we are unable to meet consumer expectations, or if our competitors are able to deliver goods faster or more conveniently, our reputation and competitiveness may suffer and we could lose consumers, which could adversely affect our revenue.

Additionally, we face the risk that any of our third-party carriers, who often collect cash-on-delivery payments from our consumers, may become insolvent, in which case our delivery capability would be adversely affected, and we would be unable to collect the cash payments such a carrier still held on our behalf. Even though we would not be able to collect from an insolvent third-party carrier, we would still be obligated to pay our sellers whose goods were already delivered to consumers. The insolvency of any of our third-party carriers could harm our business and financial condition.

Our current logistics capacity may prove insufficient if we continue to grow. There is no guarantee that we will be able to open additional warehouses, find delivery partners with sufficient capacity in an efficient and timely manner, lease additional suitable warehouses on acceptable terms, expand other areas of our fulfillment process to the extent necessary or recruit qualified personnel required to operate our warehouses and manage such expansion. Any failure to expand our logistics capacity to meet the demands of our continued growth could prevent us from growing our business.

If we decide to expand geographically, or add new businesses or product categories with different logistics requirements or change the composition of our product offering, our logistics infrastructure may require greater processing capacity, requiring us to adapt our logistics service and to find new partners. Any expansion or difficulties we encounter in our operations may force us to change the current set-up and organization of our logistics network, including by relocating or outsourcing certain capabilities. However, there is no guarantee that the associated transition will be smooth and we may be unable to react to such challenges in a cost-effective and timely manner.

An inability to efficiently operate and expand our warehouses and logistics capabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If any of our logistics services were to malfunction, suffer an outage or otherwise fail, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

We cooperate with a number of third-party logistics and delivery companies to help our sellers fulfill orders and deliver their goods to consumers, in particular with respect to last-mile delivery. We have established a

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logistics information platform that links our information system to those of our logistics partners. Interruptions to or failures in our third-parties’ logistics and delivery services, or in our logistics information platform, could prevent the timely or proper delivery of goods to consumers, which could harm our reputation, in particular if such interruptions or failures occur during one of our key sales events, like Black Friday. These interruptions may be caused by events that are beyond our control or the control of these third parties, such as inclement weather, natural disasters, transportation disruptions or labor unrest. Our logistics and delivery services could also be affected or interrupted by industry consolidation, service provider failure, insolvency, change in regulations or government shut-downs.

If the logistics information platform we use were to fail for any reason, our logistics providers may find it more difficult or even impossible to connect with our sellers, and their services and the functionality of our platform could be severely affected. Our existing disaster recovery plans may not be sufficient to ensure a timely remediation of such failures or disruptions.

In addition, in the event of any interruptions to or failures in our third-parties’ logistics and delivery services, or in our logistics service, we could be held liable by our sellers and/or consumers for any resulting damage.

If goods sold on our marketplace are not delivered in proper condition, on a timely basis or at shipping rates that marketplace participants are willing to bear, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The costs of our logistics service are subject to fluctuation in the prices of raw materials and fuel, and we may not be able to pass on price increases to our sellers and consumers.

Our logistics service provides solutions for the delivery of goods ordered through our marketplace. Our logistics service includes a number of logistics partners, with whom we agree on certain economical terms and settle the incurred costs. While we seek to pass on to our sellers and consumers most of the costs of these logistic services, we typically bear the risk of cost fluctuation. The costs of our logistics service are typically influenced by a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including raw material and fuel prices, labor costs, rent levels, import tariffs and fluctuation in foreign exchange rates, the capacity and utilization rates of our sellers and carriers, which in turn depend on general demand, as well as the quantities of goods we demand and our specifications. As a result, our costs may vary considerably in the short-term and increase significantly if certain partners experience shortages. There is no guarantee that we will be able to pass on such costs to our sellers or consumers through price increases, and such price increases could adversely affect demand for the goods or services sold on our marketplace. If competitors are able to offer lower prices as they benefit from decreasing raw materials or fuel prices, sellers and consumers may demand that we also lower our prices, irrespective of the actual development of our costs.

Increases in logistics costs and an inability to pass on such increases to our sellers and consumers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Changes in how consumers fund their transactions using our payment service could harm our business.

We pay significant transaction fees when consumers fund payment transactions using credit cards, debit cards, mobile money or via bank transfers, and no fees when consumers fund payment transactions from an existing Jumia account balance or when consumers pay cash on delivery.

The financial success of our payment services is sensitive to changes in the rate at which our consumers fund payments, which can significantly increase our costs. Some of our consumers may prefer to use credit and debit cards if these cards offer functionality and benefits not associated with the use of their bank accounts. An increase in the proportion of more expensive payment forms as compared to less expensive payment forms could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

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Our payment service could fail to function properly, and we may not be able to expand or integrate our payment service into other online portals.

Our payment service facilitates transactions between sellers and consumers and provides certain participants with access to financial services. Due to the variety and complexity of the payment methods we offer, we may experience failures in our checkout process, such as banks rejecting payment or consumers having insufficient funds, which could adversely affect our conversion rate, defined as the share of potential consumers visiting our marketplace who actually place an order, and our business.

We rely on third parties to provide payment processing services. We also rely on third-party payment processors, and encryption and authentication technology licensed from third parties, to securely transmit consumers’ personal information. If these companies become unwilling or unable to provide these services or increase their fees, such as bank and intermediary fees for credit card payments, our operations may be disrupted and our operating costs could increase. Our invoice and billing systems may malfunction due to the implementation of new payment methods and technology, errors in existing codes or other technology issues. Any such issues may impair our ability to create correct invoices, avoid the recording of duplicate invoices or payments and collect payments in a timely manner, or at all. Even though we aim to contract with multiple providers with overlapping competencies, we cannot guarantee that our third-party vendors will not experience a disruption in their services, increase their costs, or discontinue their services.

In addition, our current payment infrastructure may prove insufficient if we continue to grow or if decide to expand our payment service geographically. For instance, there is no guarantee that we will be able to maintain or enter into strategic partnerships with financial institutions or other payment solution providers in the markets in which we currently operate or will operate. Further, we may not be able to process high volumes. Any failure of the technology behind our payment solutions could be disruptive.

Malfunctions of our payment systems or our failure to effectively manage the growth of our payment service business could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Deterioration in the performance of, or our relationship with, third-party payment aggregators may adversely affect our payment service and harm our business.

JumiaPay often relies on payment aggregators to facilitate consumer payments. Payment aggregators collect payment from consumers via credit cards, debit cards, or bank transfers and then forward payment to the seller, usually within one to three business days. Thus, aggregators allow sellers to collect credit card or bank transfers without establishing direct accounts with various banks and card associations used by our consumers. In connection with the Concurrent Private Placement, we entered into a commercial agreement with Mastercard Asia/Pacific with a term of ten years, which provides Mastercard Asia/Pacific with priority in delivering payment network based solutions and technologies related to our business. This agreement could lead to a deterioration of our relationship with other service providers. If our relationship with such other service providers or third-party aggregators weakens, our ability to provide payment services to our consumers may be adversely effected. Additionally, if these third-party aggregators fail to meet certain quality standards, our business and reputation may suffer. If we fail to extend or renew agreements with these aggregators on acceptable terms, this may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Changes to payment card networks or bank fees, rules, or practices, or our inability to allow consumers to use payment cards on our platform could harm our business.

We depend on banks and other payment processors to process transactions through providers such as Visa and MasterCard and, with respect to Kenya, MPesa, which enables our acceptance of credit and debit cards (including some types of prepaid cards), as we do not have agreements directly with providers such as Visa and

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MasterCard. As a result of our reliance on these banks and other payment processors, in order to process these transactions, we must pay fees for the services, which are typically higher than those providers, such as Visa and MasterCard, would charge. From time to time, payment card networks have increased the interchange fees and assessments that they charge for each transaction that accesses their networks, and they may further increase such fees and assessments in the future. Our payment card processors have the right to pass any increases in interchange fees and assessments on to us or to increase their own fees for processing. Any changes in interchange fees and assessments could increase our operating costs and reduce our operating income.

We are required by our processors to comply with payment card network operating rules, including special operating rules for payment service providers to sellers, and we have agreed to reimburse our processors for any fines they are assessed by payment card networks as a result of any rule violations by us or our sellers. The payment card networks set and interpret the card operating rules. Payment card networks have from time to time alleged that various aspects of our business model violate these operating rules. If such allegations are not resolved, they could result in material fines and penalties or require changes in our business that may be costly. The payment card networks could adopt new operating rules or interpret or re-interpret existing rules that we or our processors might find difficult or even impossible to follow, or costly to implement. As a result, we could lose our ability to give consumers the option of using payment cards to fund their payments or the choice of currency in which they would like their card to be charged. Any inability to accept payment cards or any meaningful limitation in our ability to do so, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be subject to credit card fraud or other fraudulent behavior.

Under current credit card practices, we may be liable for fraudulent credit card transactions. We do not currently carry insurance against this risk. The risk of significant losses associated with credit card fraud increases as our net sales increase and as we continue to expand geographically.

Furthermore, there is no guarantee that our established fraud scoring and risk handling systems will function properly at all times or that there are no gaps or errors in our algorithms that may result in unauthorized purchases. In addition, increasingly strict legislation on data protection may limit our ability to obtain the data required for our algorithms to function properly. Consequently, we may fail to identify fraudulent transactions before they occur, prevent fraudulent transactions from occurring, or correctly assess the creditworthiness of our consumers who may have been victims of fraud.

If purchases or payments are not properly authorized or payment confirmations are transmitted in error, the relevant consumer may have insufficient funds or be able to defraud us, which could adversely affect our operations and result in increased legal expenses and fees. Consumers who are victims of fraudulent transactions where outside individuals use valid consumer account data to purchase goods have the right to require that we return those funds. Additionally consumers may be granted chargeback funds from sellers who later became insolvent. In such instances of fraud and seller insolvency, we may not be able to recover these chargebacks from sellers. We operate a delayed settlement regime in an effort to prevent this type of fraud and avoid distributing funds to insolvent sellers that fail to deliver their products. However, we cannot guarantee that such a regime will always prove effective.

Because our payment service is highly automated and allows for instant payment, we experience heightened susceptibility to fraud. We cannot completely guard against internal or external intruders into our data platform who may seek to use or manipulate our systems to create, transfer, or otherwise misappropriate funds belonging to legitimate consumers or to create new accounts or modify or delete existing accounts. We aim to balance convenience and security for sellers and consumers, and we cannot guarantee that we will be completely successful in preventing fraud. Furthermore, permitting new and innovative online payment options may increase the risk of fraud. High levels of fraud could result in an obligation to comply with additional requirements, pay higher payment processing fees or fines, or prevent us from retaining our consumers.

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Fraudulent behavior could subject us to liability, damage our reputation and brand and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Dissatisfaction with our consumer support could prevent us from retaining our consumers.

As most interactions with consumers and sellers are conducted online, consumers and sellers may become frustrated when they cannot communicate with a representative over the phone. We pursue a multi-channel approach to consumer support, responding to requests by email, through our hotlines and via social media. The satisfaction of our consumers depends on the effectiveness of our consumer service, particularly our ability to deal with complaints in a timely and satisfying manner. As we continue to grow, we may need to add consumer support capabilities and may not be able to do so in a timely manner, or at all. Any unsatisfactory response or lack of responsiveness by our consumer support team, whether due to interruptions of our hotlines or other factors, could adversely affect consumer satisfaction and loyalty.

Dissatisfaction with our consumer support could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Any failure to maintain, protect and enhance our reputation and brand may adversely affect our business.

The recognition and reputation of our brand among our platform participants are critical for the growth and continued success of our business and for our competitiveness in the markets in which we operate. Any loss of trust in our platform could harm the value of our brand and result in consumers and sellers ceasing to transact business on our marketplace or participants reducing the level of their commercial activity in our ecosystem, which could materially reduce our revenue and profitability. As competition intensifies, we anticipate that maintaining and enhancing our reputation and brand may become increasingly difficult and expensive, and investments to improve our reputation and increase the value of our brand may not be successful. Many factors, some of which are beyond our control, are important for maintaining and enhancing the reputation of our platform and brand, including our ability to:

Any failure to offer high quality goods and excellent consumer service could subject us to legal action or damage our reputation and brand and lead to a loss of consumers. For example, administrative agencies in several countries in which we operate require certification for various consumer goods before they can be offered for sale on our marketplace. Our third-party sellers are responsible for obtaining these certifications. If we allow third-party sellers to place their goods on our marketplace without proper certification, we might project to our consumers that they cannot always rely on goods available on our marketplace, we might be subject to fines or sanctions and we might face complaints from other compliant sellers. For example, one of our sellers recently complained that other sellers on our marketplace have listed goods without possessing the necessary licenses or certificates, while also asserting that we are responsible for aiding and abetting these improper listings. We also

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have procedures in place to ensure pre-shipping quality control checks, but, there can be no assurance that we will be able to catch all products that do not meet our quality standards, which could result in a loss of consumer confidence and harm our reputation. Our policy of delisting the sellers of noncompliant and/or low-quality goods until they produce the proper certificates and licenses or until their products meet our high quality standards allows us to respond to complaints from administrative agencies and sellers. However, any delisting of sellers limits the total number of sales on our marketplace.

A large percentage of our products are offered by third-party sellers and delivered by third-party companies and are not completely within our control. Consequently, we may receive negative publicity in cases of inappropriate actions of such sellers and delivery companies such as violations of product safety regulations, environmental standards, tax compliance, import rules, labor laws or incidents involving drivers and/or consumers that may make it more difficult for us to recruit new employees or may require us to change our business model. We also rely on third parties for information, including product characteristics and availability of goods we offer, which may be inaccurate. While our policy is to delist goods or sellers that fail to meet certain standards, there is no guarantee that we are capable of delisting these goods and sellers in a timely manner, or at all. Any negative publicity relating to an accident or other incident resulting in serious injury or death of consumers, employees or other individuals could have a material adverse effect on our reputation in our industry and in the countries in which we currently operate.

As we rely on a number of marketing channels, in particular social media sites, including Facebook, for the promotion of our brand and marketing efforts, any negative publicity may be accelerated through social media due to its immediacy and accessibility. Such negative publicity, even if factually incorrect or based on isolated incidents, could damage our reputation, diminish the value of our brand, undermine the trust and credibility we have established and have a negative impact on our ability to attract new or retain existing consumers. Given the rapid nature of social media, we may be unable to react to such negative publicity in a timely manner. Negative publicity may also stem from our association with any of our shareholders or business partners.

We may be the target of anti-competitive behavior, harassment, or other detrimental conduct by third parties, including from our competitors. Such conduct may include complaints, anonymous or otherwise, to regulatory agencies, which may arise from actions taken by third parties or our own commercial actions. As a result of such conduct, we may be subject to government or regulatory investigation and may be required to expend significant time and incur substantial costs to address such conduct. There is no guarantee that we will be able to conclusively refute each of the allegations within a reasonable period of time, or at all.

Any failure to maintain, protect and enhance our reputation and brands, whether as a result of our own actions or those of third parties, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our significant investments in marketing may fail to yield the desired results.

In order to reach a diverse consumer base in the e-commerce industry and to further build awareness of our brand, we have incurred, and may continue to incur, substantial marketing expenses.

For purposes of planning our future marketing efforts, including deciding on the mix of marketing channels and setting our marketing budget, we rely on data regarding the effectiveness of marketing measures and channels collected in the past. Any inability to accurately measure the effectiveness of our marketing measures and channels, for example due to the time lag between the first consumer contact and the placement of an order as well as the time of the order and revenue realization, may lead to our marketing efforts not having the desired effect, which may negatively affect our growth and business. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that our assumptions regarding required consumer acquisition costs and resulting revenue, including those relating to the effectiveness of our marketing investments, will prove to be correct.

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We cannot guarantee that our current marketing channels will continue to be effective or generally available to us in the future. Our online partners may not be able to deliver the anticipated number of consumer visits, or visitors attracted to our marketplace by such events may not make the anticipated purchases. For example, in Nigeria, we conduct marketing through targeted TV and radio ads, in addition to our traditional online channels. Any disruption of these channels could affect the number of visitors attracted to our marketplace. New regulation may adversely affect certain marketing channels, in particular regulation aimed at controlling and censoring social media and increasing data protection of natural persons. If we are not able to use our existing marketing channels due to increasing regulatory scrutiny, it could limit our ability to acquire and retain consumers.

An inability to attract sufficient traffic to our platform, translate a sufficient number of website visits into purchasers with sufficiently large order values, build and maintain a loyal consumer base, increase the purchase frequency of these consumers, or do any of the foregoing on a cost-effective basis, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be unable to effectively communicate with our consumers through email, other messages or social media.

We rely on newsletters in the form of emails and other messaging services in order to promote our marketplace and inform consumers of our product offerings and/or the status of their transactions. Changes in how webmail services organize and prioritize emails could reduce the number of consumers opening our emails. For example, Google’s Gmail service provides a feature that organizes incoming emails into categories. Such tools and features could result in our emails and other messages being shown as “spam” or as lower priority to our consumers, which could reduce the likelihood of consumers opening or responding positively to them. Actions by third parties to block, impose restrictions on, or charge for the delivery of emails and other messages, as well as legal or regulatory changes with respect to “permission-based marketing” or generally limiting our right to send such messages or imposing additional requirements on our ability to conduct email marketing or send other messages, could impair our ability to communicate with our consumers. If we are unable to send emails or other messages to our consumers, if such messages are delayed or if consumers do not receive or decline to open them, we would no longer be able to use this free marketing channel. This could impair our marketing efforts or make them more expensive if we have to increase spending on paid marketing channels to compensate and as a result, our business could be adversely affected.

Additionally, malfunctions of our email and messaging services could result in erroneous messages being sent and consumers no longer wanting to receive any messages from us. Furthermore, our process of obtaining consent from visitors to our marketplace to receive newsletters and other messages from us and to allow us to use their data may be insufficient or invalid. As a result, such individuals or third parties may accuse us of sending unsolicited advertisements and other messages, and our use of email and other messaging services could result in claims against us.

Since we also rely on social media to communicate with our consumers, changes to the terms and conditions of relevant providers could limit our ability to communicate through social media. These services may change their algorithms or interfaces without notifying us, which may reduce our visibility. In addition, there could be a decline in the use of such social media by our consumers, in which case we may be required to find other, potentially more expensive, communication channels.

An inability to communicate through emails, other messages or social media could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We rely on service providers to drive traffic to our website, and these providers may change their search engine algorithms or pricing in ways that could negatively affect our business.

Our success depends on our ability to attract consumers in a cost-effective manner. With respect to our marketing channels, we rely heavily on relationships with providers of online services, search engines, social

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media, directories and other websites to provide content, advertising banners and other links that direct consumers to our websites. We rely on these relationships as significant sources of traffic to our marketplace.

Search engine companies change their natural search engine algorithms periodically, and our ranking in organic search results may be adversely affected by those changes. Search engine companies may also determine that we are not in compliance with their guidelines and consequently penalize us in their algorithms. If search engines change or penalize us with their algorithms, terms of service, display and featuring of search results, or if competition increases for advertisements, we may be unable to cost-effectively drive consumers to our website and apps.

We generally do not enter into written agreements with our marketing providers, which is why they are typically not contractually bound by any specific performance commitments. In addition, many of the parties with whom we have online advertising arrangements provide advertising services to other companies, including retailers with whom we compete. As competition for online advertising has increased, the cost for some of these services has also increased. A significant increase in the cost of the marketing services upon which we rely could adversely impact our ability to attract consumers in a cost effective manner and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Investments in our technology platform and technology infrastructure may not yield the desired results.

We have developed a scalable and proprietary technology platform to facilitate and integrate our business operations, data gathering analysis and online marketing capabilities and have invested significant capital and time into building and updating our technology platform and infrastructure. In order to remain competitive, we expect to continue to make significant investments in our technology. However, there is no guarantee that the resources we have invested or will invest in the future will allow us to develop suitable technology solutions and maintain and expand our technology platform and technology infrastructure as intended, which may adversely affect our ability to compete or require us to purchase expensive software solutions from third-party developers.

If our investments in our technology platform and technology infrastructure do not yield the desired results, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may fail to operate, maintain, integrate and upgrade our technology infrastructure, or to adopt and apply technological advances.

Our growth and success depend on our websites and apps being accessible to consumers at all times. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the availability of our websites and apps, especially during peak usage times and as our product offering becomes more complex and the number of visitors to our marketplace increases. We have experienced disruptions in the past, including temporary downtimes of our websites, and we may experience disruptions, outages, or other issues in the future, due to changes in our technology infrastructure, software malfunctions, fires, natural disasters, acts of terrorism, vandalism or sabotage. If we fail to effectively address capacity constraints, respond adequately to disruptions or upgrade our technology infrastructure, our mobile apps or websites could become unavailable or fail to load quickly, and consumers may decide to shop elsewhere, and may not return, which could adversely affect our business.

Given that the internet and mobile devices are characterized by rapid technological advances, including advances in the field of machine learning, artificial intelligence, micro-services and server-less architecture, our future success will depend on our ability to adapt our websites, apps and other parts of our technology platform to such advances and to sustain their interoperability with relevant operating systems. As traditional internet penetration is low in Africa, our consumers largely rely on mobile devices to access our offerings. In particular, purchases from mobile devices have increased rapidly since we introduced our apps. However, the variety of technical and other configurations across mobile devices and platforms makes it more difficult to develop websites and apps that are suitable for multiple channels. In addition, any changes in popular operating systems

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may reduce the functionality of our websites and apps or give preferential treatment to competitors. Any failure to adapt to technological advances in a timely manner and to integrate our offerings through our websites and apps could decrease the attractiveness of our websites and apps and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may experience malfunctions or disruptions of our technology systems.

We rely on a complex technology platform and technology systems to operate our websites and apps. While we analyze our technology systems regularly, we may not be able to correctly assess their susceptibility to errors, hacking or viruses. For example, certain software we use for our business is based on open source software, which may expose our business to systemic problems if errors in the open source code are not detected in a timely manner.

Our systems may experience service interruptions or degradation because of hardware and software defects or malfunctions, computer denial-of-service and other cyberattacks, human error, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, natural disasters, power losses, disruptions in telecommunications services, fraud, military or political conflicts, terrorist attacks, computer viruses, or other events. Our systems are also subject to break-ins, sabotage and intentional acts of vandalism. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for all eventualities. In particular, as we have not yet completed a full disaster recovery check, we may not be aware of any material weaknesses in our disaster recovery systems. Any failure of or disruptions to our technology systems may lead to significant malfunctions and downtimes of our websites and apps. If our algorithms suffer from programing failures or our technology systems experience disruptions, we may be unable to deliver goods on time or misallocate goods, either of which could adversely affect our business. Furthermore, we do not have an adequate business continuity infrastructure, and any failure of a key piece of infrastructure may lead to extended outages and generally affect our business continuity. In addition, we may not adequately manage malfunctions. If we cannot fix any malfunction ourselves, we may have to pay third parties to fix the malfunction or to license functioning software, which may be costly.

We have experienced and will likely continue to experience system failures, denial-of-service attacks and other events or conditions from time to time that interrupt the availability or reduce the speed or functionality of our websites and mobile applications. Reliability is particularly critical for us because the full-time availability of our payment services is critical to our goal of gaining widespread acceptance among consumers and sellers, in particular with respect to digital and mobile payments. Frequent or persistent interruptions in our services could cause current or potential consumers to believe that our systems are unreliable, leading them to switch to our competitors or to avoid our sites, which could irreparably harm our reputation and brands. To the extent that any system failure or similar event results in damages to our consumers or their businesses, these consumers could seek significant compensation from us for their losses and such claims, even if unsuccessful, would likely be time consuming and costly to address.

In addition, we depend on certain third-party service providers to operate and maintain certain of our technology systems, such as cloud services. If such service providers experience malfunctions or disruptions of their technology or increase their prices, it could adversely affect our business. Furthermore, if we need to switch service providers, for example if certain software is no longer fully compatible with our technology platform or no longer available in any country in which we currently operate (e.g., due to sanctions), there is no guarantee that alternative service providers will be available to us or that we would manage the transition successfully.

As we continue to grow our business, we may be required to further scale our technology platform and technology systems, including by adding and migrating to new systems and proprietary software, replacing outdated hardware and increasing the integration of our technology systems. Such changes may, however, be delayed or fail due to malfunctions or an inability to integrate new software and functions with our existing technology platform, resulting in disruptions to our operations and insufficient scale to support our future growth. In addition, as a provider of payments solutions, we are subject to increased scrutiny by regulators that may

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require specific business continuity and disaster recovery plans and more rigorous testing of such plans. This increased scrutiny may be costly and time consuming and may divert our resources from other business priorities.

Any malfunctions and disruptions of our technology systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our use of open source software may pose particular risks to our proprietary software and systems.

We use open source software in our proprietary software and systems and intend to continue using open source software in the future. The licenses applicable to our use of open source software may require that source code that is developed using open source software be made available to the public and that any modifications or derivative works to certain open source software continue to be licensed under open source licenses.

From time to time, we may face claims from third parties claiming infringement of their intellectual property rights, or demanding the release or license of the open source software or derivative works that we developed using such software (which could include our proprietary source code) or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These claims could result in litigation and could require us to purchase a costly license, publicly release the affected portions of our source code, be limited in or cease using the implicated software unless and until we can re-engineer such software to avoid infringement or change the use of, or remove, the implicated open source software.

In addition to risks related to license requirements, use of certain open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties, indemnities or other contractual protections with respect to the software (for example, non-infringement or functionality). Our use of open source software may also present additional security risks because the source code for open source software is publicly available, which may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to determine how to breach our website and systems that rely on open source software.

Any of these risks could be difficult to eliminate or manage, and, if not addressed, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may experience security breaches and disruptions due to hacking, viruses, fraud, malicious attacks and other circumstances.

We operate websites, apps and other technology systems through which we collect, maintain, transmit and store sensitive information, such as credit card information, about our consumers, sellers, suppliers and other third parties. We also store proprietary information and business secrets. Additionally, we employ third-party service providers that store, process and transmit such information on our behalf, in particular payment details. Furthermore, we rely on encryption and authentication technology licensed from third parties to securely transmit sensitive and confidential information. While we take steps such as the use of password policies and firewalls to protect the security, integrity and confidentiality of sensitive and confidential information, our security practices may be insufficient and third parties may access our technology systems without authorization – such as through Trojans, spyware, ransomware or other malware attacks – which may result in unauthorized use or disclosure of such information. Such attacks might lead to blackmailing attempts, forcing us to pay substantial amounts to release our captured data or resulting in the unauthorized release of such data. Given that techniques used in these attacks change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, it may be impossible to properly secure our technology systems. In addition, technical advances or a continued expansion and increased complexity of our technology platform could increase the likelihood of security breaches.

Security breaches may also occur as a result of non-technical issues, including intentional or inadvertent breaches by our employees or third-party service providers. Insufficient security practices, such as inadequate

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policies to enforce password complexity, the saving of username and password combinations on local browsers, any failure to update permissions granted to current or former employees, any weakness in access controls, the use of default credentials or their reuse coupled with the use of third-party cloud services, the use of unauthorized and unprotected software as well as inadequate physical protection against unauthorized access may make our technology systems vulnerable and lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information.

Any leakage of sensitive information could lead to a misuse of data, including unsolicited emails or other messages based on spam lists fed with such data. Inefficient management of administrator and user accounts may increase the risk of fraud and malfunctions. In addition, any such breach could violate applicable privacy, data security and other laws, and cause significant legal and financial risks or negative publicity, and could adversely affect our business and reputation. We may need to devote significant resources to protect ourselves against security breaches or to address such breaches, and there is no guarantee that our resources will be sufficient to do so. Furthermore, we provide certain information to third-party service providers, such as Google, who help us assess the performance of our business. Consequently, we have only limited control over the protection of such information by the relevant third-party service providers and may be adversely affected by breaches and disruptions of their respective technology systems.

Security breaches and disruptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We depend on our personnel to grow and operate our business and may not be able to retain and replace existing personnel or to attract new personnel.

We are a founder-led business and depend heavily on the continued input of our founders Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara. We also depend upon the continued services and performance of our other officers and other key personnel, many of whom have a level of experience and local knowledge that would be difficult to replicate. The unexpected departure or loss of any of them could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to attract or retain suitable replacements for such personnel in a timely manner or at all. We may also incur significant additional costs in recruiting and retaining suitable replacements. In addition, from time to time, there may be changes in our management team that may be disruptive to our business.

Our success and growth strategy also depend on our ability to expand our business by identifying, attracting, recruiting, training, integrating, managing and motivating new and talented personnel, which may require significant time, investments, and management attention. Competition for talent is intense, particularly for technology experts and other qualified personnel in our fields of operations. For example, other leading technology platforms also operate technology centers in Porto and compete directly with us for the same talent pool. In addition, certain governments started to promote access of indigenous peoples to better workplaces by limiting the number of expatriates or foreign workers. While our local workforces are mostly comprised of local employees, our group-level management and certain key personnel on a local level are expatriates from countries outside Africa, and any employment and immigration regulations may adversely affect our ability to retain or replace the required personnel. In addition, our employees and/or the third-party service providers with whom we collaborate may experience accidents or become victims of criminal actions in carrying out their duties, which may make it more difficult for us to recruit new employees or may even require us to change our business model.

An inability to retain and replace existing personnel or to attract new personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We manage our operations on a decentralized basis, which presents certain risks, including the risk that we may be slower or less able to identify or react to problems affecting our business than we would in a more centralized environment.

While we have a number of administrative functions teams located in Dubai, UAE, and a central technology, research and development and data team located in Porto, Portugal, we manage our operations on a

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decentralized basis and our local managers are given significant freedom concerning day-to-day operations. This structure presents various risks, including the risk that we may be slower or less able to identify or react to problems affecting our business than we would in a more centralized environment. In addition, we may be slower to detect compliance related problems, and “company-wide” business initiatives, such as the integration of disparate information technology systems, may be more challenging and costly to implement, and their risk of failure higher, than they would be in a more centralized environment. Depending on the nature of the problem or initiative in question, such failure could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our corporate culture has contributed to our success, and if we cannot maintain this culture, we could lose the innovation, creativity and teamwork fostered by our culture, which could harm our business.

We believe that our entrepreneurial and collaborative corporate culture has been an important contributor to our success, which we believe fosters innovation, teamwork and passion among our employees. As we continue to grow, we may have difficulties in maintaining or adapting our culture to sufficiently meet the needs of our future and evolving operations, and we must be able to effectively integrate, develop and motivate a growing number of employees. In addition, our ability to maintain our culture as a public company, with the attendant changes in policies, practices, corporate governance and management requirements may be challenging. Any failure to preserve our culture could also negatively affect our ability to retain and recruit personnel, maintain our performance or execute on our business strategy, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to various risks for which we may not be adequately insured.

While we have purchased what we consider to be market standard insurance coverage customary in our industry, such insurance does not cover all risks associated with our business. Accidents and other events, including interruptions or security breaches of our technology platform, could potentially lead to interruptions of our operations or cause us to incur significant costs, all of which may not be covered or fully covered by our insurance policies. In addition, our insurance coverage is subject to various limitations and exclusions, retentions amounts and limits. Furthermore, if any of our insurance providers becomes insolvent, we may not be able to successfully claim payment from such insurance provider. In the future, we may not be able to obtain coverage at current levels, or at all, and premiums for our insurance may increase significantly.

A lack of adequate insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be subject to allegations and lawsuits concerning anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing.

As cash payments continue to be the most trusted and most widely used payment method in the countries in which we currently operate, our operations mainly depend on our “cash on delivery” payment option, where consumers pay for their order in cash upon delivery. We have implemented and aim to improve our various group-wide policies and procedures, including internal controls and “know-your-customer” procedures, and comply with all applicable anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws and regulations for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. However, our policies and procedures may not be completely effective in preventing other parties from using our platform, or any financial institutions we collaborate with, as a conduit for money laundering (including illegal cash operations) or terrorist financing without our knowledge. Although we take steps to appropriately diligence our sellers, we cannot guarantee that our ecosystem is void of individuals and entities (collectively, “persons”) who are the target of U.S. sanctions, including persons designated on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (“OFAC”) Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List or other international sanctions. In addition to our own internal procedures, we rely on certain payment and lending service providers, including banks and other financial institutions, to have their own appropriate anti-money laundering compliance policies and procedures.

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We have not been subject to fines or other penalties or suffered business or other reputational harm as a result of actual or alleged money laundering or terrorist financing activities. However, if we were to be associated with money laundering or terrorist financing, our reputation could suffer and we could become subject to regulatory fines, sanctions, potential criminal charges for failure to report such activity, or other forms of legal enforcement, including being added to any “blacklists” that would prohibit certain parties (for example, U.S. banks and financial institutions) from engaging in transactions with us, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations. Even if we and any financial institutions with whom we collaborate comply with applicable anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws and regulations, we and such financial institutions may not be able to ensure full compliance with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws and regulations in light of their complexity and the secrecy of these activities.

Any negative perception of us or our industry, such as that arising from any failure of us or others in our industry to detect or prevent money laundering or terrorist financing activities, even if factually incorrect or based on isolated incidents, could compromise our reputation, undermine the trust and credibility we have established, and negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our activities or the activities of our shareholders in countries targeted by economic sanctions may negatively affect our reputation.

Various members of the international community have targeted certain countries, including Iran, with economic sanctions and other restrictive measures. Within the applicable framework, we allow consumers to book hotels in and flights serving Iran. While the revenue from these offers is immaterial, we cannot rule out that negative publicity around these offers may harm our reputation. Further, any violation by us of applicable economic sanctions laws or regulations or other restrictive measures could result in criminal, civil and/or material financial penalties. In addition, our indirect shareholder, MTN Group Limited, holds a 49% indirect, non-controlling interest in Irancell, which operates Iran’s second largest mobile network and offers international voice, interconnect and roaming services. MTN Group Limited also has a beneficial interest of about 44% in Iranian e-commerce business Snapp (also known as Iran Internet Group), which includes retail marketplace, ride hailing, travel, delivery and food delivery businesses. These and other activities of our current or future shareholders in countries targeted by economic sanctions may harm our reputation or may lead to us being targeted by divestment and similar initiatives.

We conduct a substantial amount of our business in foreign currencies, which heightens our exposure to the risk of exchange rate fluctuations.

We are subject to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates between the Euro, our reporting currency, and currencies of other countries where we market or source our goods, for example the Nigerian Naira, the Egyptian Pound, the Kenyan Shilling and the West African CFA Franc. Such fluctuations may result in significant increases or decreases in our reported revenue and other results as expressed in Euro, and in the reported value of our assets, liabilities and cash flows. In addition, currency fluctuation may adversely affect receivables, payables, debt, firm commitments and forecast transactions denominated in foreign currencies. In particular, transition risks arise where parts of the cost of sales are not denominated in the same currency of such sales. Fluctuation in exchange rates, depreciation of local currencies, changes in monetary and/or fiscal policy or inflation in the countries in which we operate could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Exchange controls may restrict the ability of our subsidiaries to convert or transfer sums in foreign currencies.

Our ability to generate operating cash flows at the level of the Company depends on the ability of its subsidiaries to upstream funds. Several of the countries in which we currently operate have exchange controls

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that can, from time to time place, restrictions on the exchange of local currency for foreign currency and the transfer of funds abroad. These controls generally have not created major operational problems in the past because of our negative profitability, but may become more onerous in the future. These controls and other controls that may be implemented in the future could limit the ability of our subsidiaries to transfer cash to us.

Moreover, in some of the countries in which we currently operate, our sellers have experienced, and may experience in the future, difficulties in converting large amounts of local currency into foreign currency due in particular to illiquid foreign exchange markets, preventing them from importing certain goods and impeding their ability to sell successfully on our marketplace. In addition, as the cash flows of certain countries are highly dependent on the export of certain raw materials, the ability to convert such currencies can be limited by the timing of payments for such exports, requiring us to organize our currency conversions around such constraints.

We can offer no assurance that additional restrictions on currency exchange will not be implemented in the future or that these restrictions will not limit the ability of our subsidiaries to transfer cash to us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

If we are unable to accurately assess our performance through certain key performance indicators, this may adversely affect our ability to determine and implement appropriate strategies.

We assess the success of our business through a set of key performance indicators such as the number of Active Consumers, GMV and Adjusted EBITDA. Our key performance indicators may not be comparable to similarly named indicators used by our competitors.

Capturing accurate data to calculate our key performance indicators may be difficult, in particular due to our limited operating history, and there is no guarantee that the information we have collected thus far is accurate or reliable. For example, we use consumer accounts to determine the number of Active Consumers. The number of consumer accounts may, however, be higher than the number of actual individual Active Consumers. GMV could be inflated due to weak or error-prone data collection processes or malicious seller or consumer behavior. Furthermore, we obtain certain information from third-party service providers who help us assess the performance of our business, including Google Analytics. Such relevant third-party service providers may not fully disclose the methods of how they compile such information and we cannot guarantee that such information is accurate.

As a result, our key performance indicators may not reflect our actual operating or financial performance and are not reliable indicators of our current or future revenue or profitability. Potential investors should therefore not place undue reliance on these key performance indicators in connection with an investment in our ADSs. The management of our business depends on our key performance indicators and other indicators derived from them, and if any of these indicators are inaccurate, we may make poor decisions. Furthermore, if we report key performance indicators that are significantly wrong, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and reliability of information we report, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not accurately forecast income and appropriately plan our expenses.

We base our current and future expense levels on our operating forecasts and estimates of future income. Income and operating results are difficult to forecast because they generally depend on the volume and timing of orders placed on our marketplace and their fulfillment, all of which are uncertain. Additionally, our business is affected by general economic and business conditions around the world. A softening in income, whether caused by changes in consumer preferences or a weakening in local or global economies, may result in decreased revenue levels, and we may be unable to adjust our spending in a timely manner to compensate for any unexpected shortfall in income. This inability could cause our loss after tax in a given quarter to be higher than expected. If actual results differ from our estimates, our net income in a given quarter may be lower than expected.

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We make provisions based on management’s risk assessment at the time of finalization of the relevant financial statements. Where risks are estimated as probable, we make provisions in our financial statements. The risk assessment may change from one period to another, and additional risks may emerge. Changes in the risk assessment may lead to the recognition of additional provisions or the reversal of existing provisions, which can have a material impact on our net income or loss. Further, while the impact of risks that have already been provided for on our net income or loss is limited, the materialization of such risks may lead to substantial cash outflows, which may have a material adverse effect on our liquidity. As of December 31, 2018, we had provisions for liabilities and other charges of €30.4 million, including tax provisions of €30.3 million.

If we do not accurately forecast income or appropriately plan our expenses, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business is subject to seasonal fluctuation which may have a material impact on our results.

Our business is seasonal and, consequently, our revenue tends to fluctuate from quarter to quarter. For example, we consider the fourth quarter as especially important for generating revenue. In addition, certain special events, in particular Black Friday, elections or Jumia Anniversary, result in increased demand for goods on our marketplace. In the future, such seasonality may become even more pronounced if consumers focus more strongly on certain special events.

As a result of this seasonality, any factor that adversely affects demand for goods on our marketplace during periods where we generally experience particularly high demand, including unfavorable economic conditions at the relevant time, logistics and other fulfillment constraints resulting in higher delivery times, malfunctions of our websites, and special offers from our competitors, may have a disproportionate effect on our performance, and we may incur lower revenue and losses due to write-offs on excess inventory. For example, Ramadan has positive effects, such as a higher orders for certain products prior to Ramadan, and negative effects, such as logistics and fulfillment constraints due to a limited workforce during Ramadan.

In addition, any negative effects of weak overall demand during those periods are likely to be exacerbated by industry-wide price reductions designed to clear out excess merchandise. Seasonality also makes it difficult for us to accurately forecast demand for our goods and source sufficient volumes of these goods. If we fail to anticipate high demand for our goods and do not meet such demand, we may lose consumers and revenue and may be unable to grow our business. Our results of operations have fluctuated and are likely to continue to fluctuate due to these and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. In addition, our rapid growth has masked the seasonality that might otherwise be apparent in our results of operations. If our growth slows, we expect that the seasonality in our business may become more pronounced.

Given that our results may vary from quarter to quarter and year to year, our results of operations for one quarter or year cannot necessarily be compared to another quarter or year and may not be indicative of our future financial performance in subsequent quarters or years. Period to period comparisons of our results of operations may not be meaningful, and you should not rely upon them as an indication of future performance.

Required licenses, permits or approvals may be difficult to obtain in the countries in which we currently operate, and once obtained may be amended or revoked arbitrarily or may not be renewed.

Given our diversified offering of goods and services, we require numerous approvals and licenses from national, regional, and local governmental or regulatory authorities in the countries in which we currently operate. For example, we may be required to obtain licenses to be able to continue offering or expand certain of our payment solutions or lending services, and there can be no assurance that we will obtain any such licenses in a timely manner or at all. Even if obtained, licenses are subject to review, interpretation, modification or termination by the relevant authorities.

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Additionally, in certain jurisdictions in which we currently operate, we do not have the necessary licenses to operate as a direct payment service provider. Instead, we offer our JumiaPay services in certain markets (for example, Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, and Ivory Coast) through agreements we have with existing licensed banks or payment service providers. If any of these partners were to lose their license, it might prohibit them from continuing to offer services and could inhibit our operations as well. Any unfavorable interpretation or modification or any termination of a required license may significantly harm our operations in the relevant country or may require us to close down parts or all of our operations in the relevant country.

We can offer no assurance that the relevant authorities will not take any action that could materially and adversely affect these licenses, permits or approvals or our ability to sell goods and provide our services, such as actions to increase license, permit or approval fees or reduce the scope of permitted services. We may experience difficulties in obtaining or maintaining some of these licenses, approvals and permits, which may require us to undertake significant efforts and incur additional expenses. If we operate without a license, which we have done in the past, we could be subject to fines, criminal prosecution or other legal action. Any difficulties in obtaining or maintaining licenses, approvals or permits or the amendment or revocation thereof could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Legal, Regulatory and Tax Risks

Our global operations involve additional risks, and we are subject to or may otherwise face exposure under numerous, complex and sometimes conflicting legal and regulatory regimes.

Our business is subject to numerous laws in different countries, including laws applicable to the e-commerce sector such as laws with respect to privacy, data protection and data security, online content and telecommunications and laws applicable to public companies in general, in particular laws with respect to intellectual property protection, local employment, tax, finance, money laundering, online payment, consumer protection, product liability and the labeling of our goods, competition, anti-corruption and international sanctions. Operating in foreign countries entails an inherent risk of misinterpreting and incorrectly implementing local laws and regulations. In addition, numerous laws and regulations apply to goods on our marketplace. Since we do not manufacture these goods ourselves, our ability to ensure that such goods comply with all applicable regulations is limited. A change in laws and regulations relating to consumer products, products liability or consumer protection in any of the markets in which we operate could require additional investments in order to develop better quality control measures for our platform, increase product safety, or defend against potential products liability litigation.

We cannot guarantee that we have always been in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations in the past, nor that we will be able to fully comply with them in the future. Additionally, we strive to obtain and retain all necessary business licenses, permissions and clearances in each of the countries in which we operate. However, we cannot guarantee that relevant regulators will agree with our position regarding the adequacy of our existing regulatory licenses and permissions or our legal analyses concerning the requirement to obtain clearances, including anti-trust clearances. We take a dynamic approach to ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations, relying on senior management in each jurisdiction where we operate to identify and interpret on an ongoing basis the laws and regulations that apply to our business activities. Uncertainties in the legal and regulatory framework may, from time to time, affect our judgment or the legal assessment and opinion of outside legal counsel and lead to incorrect risk-based judgments regarding the relevance of certain legal requirements. For example, past uncertainty regarding proper building licenses in Egypt resulted in us incorrectly obtaining warehouse licenses that permitted manufacturing activities but not storage activities. Additionally, at times we have failed to delist in a timely manner noncompliant products and sellers due to uncertainty regarding the legality or regulatory compliance of certain products. The violation of any of the laws or regulations applicable to us — including laws and regulations relating to consumer products, product liability or consumer protection — may result in litigation, criminal prosecution, damage claims from consumers, business partners and/or competitors or extensive investigations by governmental authorities and substantial fines being imposed on us. Even unfounded allegations of non-compliance may adversely affect our reputation and business.

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Any changes in the legal framework applicable to our business could adversely affect our operations and profitability. If we continue to expand our business, we will become subject to new legal frameworks that are even more complex. In the future, we may further expand our geographic footprint, including by entering into adjacent geographic markets. The laws and regulations of various countries in which we currently operate or may operate in the future are evolving. Consequently, such laws and regulations may change and sometimes may conflict with each other, making it more difficult to observe them.

At any time, authorities in the countries where we currently operate may require us to obtain additional, or extend existing, licenses, permits or approvals. However, there is no guarantee that we will be able to obtain these in a timely and cost effective manner. Authorities may revoke existing licenses, and we may not be able to appeal any such revocations in a timely and/or effective manner, or at all.

The materialization of any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to governmental regulation and other legal obligations related to privacy, data protection and information security. If we are unable to comply with these, we may be subject to governmental enforcement actions, litigation, fines and penalties or adverse publicity.

We collect personally identifiable information and other data from our consumers and prospective consumers. We use this information to provide services and relevant products to our consumers, to support, expand and improve our business, and to tailor our marketing and advertising efforts. We may also share consumers’ personal data with certain third parties as authorized by the consumer or as described in our privacy policy. As a result, we are subject to governmental regulation and other legal obligations related to the protection of personal data, privacy and information security in certain countries where we do business, and there has been, and we expect there will continue to be, a significant increase globally in laws that restrict or control the use of personal data.

For example, in Europe, the data privacy and information security regime recently underwent a significant change, continues to evolve, and is subject to increasing regulatory scrutiny. The new General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which came into force on May 25, 2018, implemented more stringent operational requirements for the use of personal data. These more stringent requirements include expanded disclosures to inform consumers about the use of personal data, increased controls on profiling consumers and increased rights for consumers to access, control and delete their personal data. In addition, there are mandatory data breach notification requirements and significantly increased penalties of the greater of €20 million or 4% of global turnover for the preceding financial year. Due to the introduction of the GDPR in the European Union, we decided to implement geo-blocking software to prevent consumers located in the European Union from transacting on our platform as we may not fulfill all GDPR requirements.

Additionally, the regulatory landscape surrounding data protection, data privacy and information security is rapidly changing across Africa. Among the African countries in which we operate, only Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia have established comprehensive data protection and data privacy laws. These data protection laws and regulations were only recently enacted. For example, the National Information Technology Development Agency in Nigeria passed new data protection guidelines in 2017, and we are in the process of implementing new policies to comply with these regulations.

Compliance with the various data protection laws in Africa is challenging due to the complex and sometimes contradictory nature of the different regulatory regimes. Because data protection regulations are not uniform among the various African nations in which we operate, our ability to transmit consumer information across borders is limited by our ability to comply with conditions and restrictions that vary from country to country. In countries with particularly strict data protection laws, we might not be able to transmit data out of the country at all and may be required to host individual servers in each such country where we collect data. For

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example, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, and Tunisia all restrict data transfer across borders. Ghana also requires that a company notify consumers in the event of a personal data breach. Egypt currently has no data protection and privacy laws. However, the Egyptian government announced in 2017 that it is committed to doubling the size of its e-commerce sector by 2020, and intends to update all legislation and regulation relevant to e-commerce.

Moreover, many data protection regimes apply based on where a consumer is located, and as we expand and new laws are enacted or existing laws change, we may be subject to new laws, regulations or standards or new interpretations of existing laws, regulations or standards, including those in the areas of data security, data privacy and regulation of email providers and those that require localization of certain data, which could require us to incur additional costs and restrict our business operations.

Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with rapidly evolving privacy or security laws, policies, legal obligations or industry standards or any security incident that results in the unauthorized release or transfer of personally identifiable information or other consumer data may result in governmental enforcement actions, litigation (including consumer class actions), criminal prosecution, fines and penalties or adverse publicity and could cause our consumers to lose trust in us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be adversely affected by changes in the regulations applicable to the use of the internet and the e-commerce sector.

As the internet continues to revolutionize commercial relationships on a global scale and online penetration increases, new laws and regulations relating to the use of the internet in general and the e-commerce sector in particular may be adopted. These laws and regulations may govern the collection, use and protection of data, consumer protection, online payments, pricing, anti-bribery, tax, country specific prices and website contents and other aspects relevant to our business. The adoption or modification of laws or regulations relating to our operations could adversely affect our business by increasing compliance costs, including as a result of confidentiality or security breaches in case of non-compliance, and administrative burdens. In particular, privacy related regulation could interfere with our strategy to collect and use personal information as part of our data-driven approach along the value chain. For example, the National Information Technology Development Agency in Nigeria recently enacted new data protection guidelines in 2017. We currently comply with these new guidelines, and our data protection and privacy policies address methods for continued compliance with such guidelines. We must comply with applicable regulations in all of the countries in which we operate, and any non-compliance could lead to fines and other sanctions.

Changes to the regulation applicable to the use of the internet and the e-commerce sector could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The legal and regulatory environment in certain countries in which we operate can be unstable, which may slow economic development.

Our business, and the goods and services we offer, are subject to a variety of legislative and regulatory measures in the countries in which we currently operate. Many of the countries in which we currently operate have a less established legal system than the United States.

Weaknesses in legal systems and legislation in many of these countries create uncertainty for investments and business due to changing requirements that may be costly, incoherent and contradictory, limited budgets for judicial systems, questionable judicial interpretations and/or inadequate regulatory regimes. These risks could have a negative impact on economic conditions in the countries in which we currently operate. These factors could also result in the interruption of certain of our businesses or an increase in operating expenses in the

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relevant countries. Changes in legislative and regulatory provisions in these countries, which we may not be able to anticipate, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Furthermore, government authorities have a high degree of discretion in many of the markets in which we currently operate, and have sometimes exercised their discretion in ways that may be perceived as selective or arbitrary, or in a manner that could be seen as being influenced by political or commercial considerations. Moreover, many of the governments in the countries in which we currently operate have the power in certain circumstances, by regulation or other government action, to interfere with the performance of contracts or to terminate them or declare them null and void. Governmental actions may include withdrawal of licenses, withholding of permits, criminal prosecutions and civil actions. In some countries, when the economic environment has deteriorated and in order to compensate for the resulting revenue shortages, authorities have imposed new regulations, in particular relating to tax and customs duties, sometimes unexpectedly. There is no guarantee that legislative authorities in the countries in which we currently operate will not pass new laws or regulations or amend existing laws and regulations in a manner that would significantly negatively impact our business model or may even render our business model no longer viable.

The weakness of the legal systems in the emerging countries in which we currently operate could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We do business in certain countries where corruption is considered to be widespread, and we are exposed to the risk of extortion and violation of anti-corruption laws and regulations.

Anti-corruption laws and regulations in force in many countries generally prohibit companies from making direct or indirect payments to civil servants, public officials or members of governments for the purpose of entering into or maintaining business relationships. In addition, we are subject to certain provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (“FCPA”). The FCPA prohibits providing, offering, promising, or authorizing, directly or indirectly, anything of value to government officials, political parties, or political candidates for the purposes of obtaining or retaining business or securing any improper business advantage. We conduct business in, or may expand our business to, certain countries where there is a high risk of corruption and extortion and in some cases, where corruption and extortion are considered to be widespread and where our companies may have to obtain approvals, licenses, permits, or other regulatory approvals from public officials.

Therefore, we are exposed to the risk that our employees, consultants, agents, or other third parties working on our behalf, could make, offer, promise or authorize payments or other benefits in violation of anti-corruption laws and regulations, especially in response to demands or attempts at extortion. We have implemented prevention and training programs as well as internal policies and procedures designed to promote best practices and detect and prevent such violations. However, these prevention and training measures may prove to be insufficient, and our employees, consultants and agents may have been or could be engaged in activities for which we or the relevant officers could be held liable. We can make no assurance that the policies and procedures, even if enhanced, will be followed at all times or effectively detect and prevent all violations of the applicable laws and every instance of fraud, bribery and corruption.

In addition, some anti-corruption laws and regulations, including the FCPA, require that we maintain accurate books and records that reflect the disposition of company assets in reasonable detail, and that we implement appropriate internal controls, to ensure that our operations of do not involve corruption, illegal payments or extortion. The great diversity and complexity of these local laws and regulations and the decentralized nature of our business in various countries and markets create a risk that, in some instances, we may be deemed liable for violations of applicable laws and regulations, in particular, in connection with a failure to comply with those laws and regulations relating to books and records, financial reporting, or internal controls, among others.

Any actual or perceived violation or breach of these anti-corruption laws and regulations, including any potential governmental or internal investigations of perceived or actual misconduct, could affect our overall

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reputation and, depending on the case, expose us to administrative or judicial proceedings, which could result in criminal and civil judgments, including fines and monetary penalties, a possible prohibition on maintaining business relationships with suppliers or consumers in certain countries, and other negative consequences which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may face exposure under certain export controls and trade and economic sanctions laws and regulations that could impair our ability to compete in international markets and subject us to liability for non-compliance.

Our business activities may expose us to various trade and economic sanctions laws and regulations, including, without limitation, OFAC’s trade and economic sanctions programs (“Trade Controls”). In such circumstances, such Trade Controls may prohibit or restrict our ability to, directly or indirectly, conduct activities or dealings in or with certain countries that are the subject of comprehensive embargoes (i.e., sanctioned countries), as well as with individuals or entities that are the target of Trade Controls-related prohibitions and restrictions (i.e., sanctioned parties). Additionally, our sales and services to certain consumers may at times trigger reporting requirements under U.S. law.

Although we have implemented controls designed to ensure compliance with applicable Trade Controls, our failure to successfully comply therewith may expose us to negative legal and business consequences, potentially including civil or criminal penalties, government investigations, and financial and reputational harm, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Increased labor costs, compliance with labor laws and regulations and failure to maintain good relations with labor unions may adversely affect our results of operations.

We are required to comply with extensive labor regulations in each of the countries in which we have employees, including with respect to wages, social security benefits and termination payments. If we fail to comply with these regulations we may face labor claims and government fines, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. We use the services of freelancers to promote our offerings. There can be no guarantee that the relationship we have with these freelancers will not be viewed as an employment arrangement, which may lead to an increase in our personnel expenses.

Governments may adopt laws, regulations and other measures requiring companies in the private sector to increase wages and provide specified benefits to employees. Additionally, although we currently compensate members of our JForce program as independent sales consultants, it is possible that certain jurisdictions may reclassify them as employees, which would require us to change their compensation and benefits structure. We may face pressure from our labor unions or otherwise to increase employee salaries, and we face the risk that other labor-related disputes may arise. Labor disputes that result in strikes or other disruptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our risk management and compliance structure was implemented only recently, and there is a risk that it may prove inadequate.

Currently, we lack a dedicated centralized compliance function. However, we recently began implementing a group-wide risk management and compliance program that is aimed at preventing corruption, fraud and other criminal or other forms of non-compliance by our management, employees, consultants, agents and sellers. Although we seek to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of this program and the frequency at which we perform systematic compliance checks, given the broad scope of our operations and, in particular, the fact that corruption and extortion are common in some countries in which we currently operate or in which we have operated in the past, such controls may prove to be insufficient to prevent or detect non-compliant conduct. Additionally, certain employees, consultants, agents or sellers may still engage in illegal practices or corruption

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to win business or to conspire in order to circumvent our compliance controls. Similarly, our risk management function may fail to identify, mitigate or manage relevant risk exposures. For example, we have identified failures of our internal controls in the past, including an allegation of fraudulent local management behavior in contravention of company policy with respect to cash management, and while we have implemented improvements to, and routinely monitor, our internal controls at a country and group level, we cannot be sure that such internal control procedures will prove effective or that our policies will be followed.

Non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations may harm our reputation and ability to compete and result in legal action, criminal and civil sanctions, or administrative fines and penalties, such as a loss of business licenses or permits, against us, members of our governing bodies and our employees. They may also result in damage claims by third parties or other adverse effects, including class action lawsuits or enforcement actions by national and international regulators resulting in limitations to our business).

Any failure of our compliance structure to prevent or detect non-compliant behavior could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property against infringements from third parties.

We believe that our intellectual property, including consumer data, copyrights, brands, trademarks, trade secrets and proprietary technology, is critical to our success. We have developed, and will continue to develop, a substantial quantity of proprietary software, processes and other know-how, including assortment related know-how, that are especially important to our operations. However, we may not be able to obtain effective protection for such intellectual property or other proprietary know-how in all relevant countries. If the laws and regulations applicable to our intellectual property change, this may make it even more difficult to effectively protect such intellectual property.

In addition, we may be required to spend significant funds on monitoring and protecting our intellectual property and there is no guarantee that we can successfully discover all infringements, misappropriations or other violations of our intellectual property and pursue them successfully. We provide certain information to third-party service providers who help us assess the performance of our business, such as Google Analytics. Consequently, we only have limited control to ensure that such information is not misused by the relevant third-party service providers or passed on to other third parties, including our competitors.

If we initiate litigation against infringements of our intellectual property, such litigation may prove costly and there is no guarantee that it will ultimately be successful and that the rulings we obtain will adequately remedy the damage we have suffered. Where we rely on contractual agreements to protect our intellectual property, such agreements may be found to be invalid or unenforceable. Furthermore, some of our intellectual property could be challenged or found invalid through administrative processes or litigation, and third parties may independently develop or otherwise acquire equivalent intellectual property.

An inability to adequately protect our intellectual property could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be accused of infringing on the intellectual property of third parties.

As we utilize a variety of intellectual property for our business, consumers, regulatory authorities or other third parties may allege that intellectual property we use infringes on their intellectual property, and we may therefore become subject to allegations and litigation. Even unfounded allegations of infringement may adversely affect our reputation and business and may require significant resources to defend against. If we try to obtain licenses from such third parties to settle any disputes, there is no guarantee that such licenses will be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all, in which case we may be required to alter our brands or change the way we currently operate.

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In addition, we may not be able to continue to market certain goods in instances where our suppliers manufacture these goods without regard for the intellectual property rights of third parties. Furthermore, some of the agreements we entered into with third parties may contain clauses regarding the protection of their intellectual property licensed to us. A violation of these clauses, such as the unauthorized sub licensing or disclosure of a confidential source code, may require us to pay significant penalties, prevent us from utilizing such intellectual property in the future and may result in litigation against us. Moreover, some of our proprietary technology was developed on the basis of licensed proprietary and non-proprietary software that we licensed from third parties. If these licenses were to be challenged or found invalid through litigation or other proceedings, we may be unable to continue utilizing such proprietary technology.

Any infringements on the intellectual property of third parties could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be unable to acquire, utilize and maintain our domains and trademarks.

We have registered various word and figurative trademarks as well as internet domains and expect to register additional similar rights in the future. These rights are regulated by the relevant regulatory bodies and subject to trademark laws and other related laws in the countries in which we have registered them.

If we cannot obtain or maintain our existing or future word and figurative trademarks as well as internet domains on reasonable terms, we may be forced to incur significant additional expenses or be unable to operate our business as intended. Furthermore, the regulations governing domain names and laws protecting trademarks and similar proprietary rights could change (e.g., through the establishment of additional generic or country code top level domains or changes in registration processes), which may prevent us from using these rights as intended. In addition, we may not be able to prevent third parties from registering and utilizing domains and trademarks that interfere with those that we have registered.

An inability to maintain our domains and trademarks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may be involved in litigation or other proceedings that could adversely affect our business.

In the ordinary course of our business activities, we are regularly exposed to various litigation, particularly in the areas of product warranty, delays of payments or deliveries, competition law, intellectual property disputes, labor disputes and tax matters. Such litigation is subject to inherent uncertainties, and unfavorable rulings could require us to pay monetary damages or provide for an injunction prohibiting us from performing a critical activity, such as marketing certain goods. Even if legal claims brought against us are without merit, defending against such claims could be time-consuming and expensive and could divert management’s attention from other business concerns. Additionally, we may decide to settle such claims, which could prove expensive to us.

If we become involved in litigation or other proceedings, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We use standardized documents, contracts and terms and conditions, compounding the negative impact on our business if any clause is held to be void.

We use standardized documents, contracts and terms and conditions to govern our relationships with a large number of sellers and consumers. If such documents, contracts or terms and conditions are found to contain provisions that are interpreted in a manner disadvantageous to us, or if any clauses are held to be void and thereby replaced by statutory provisions that are disadvantageous to us, a large number of our contractual relationships could be affected.

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In addition, standardized terms and conditions must comply with the statutory laws on general terms and conditions in the various countries in which we currently operate, which means that in many countries such standardized terms and conditions are subject to intense scrutiny by the courts. We cannot guarantee that all standardized terms and conditions we use currently comply and will continue to comply with the relevant requirements. Even if terms and conditions are prepared with legal advice, it is impossible for us to guarantee that they are valid, given that changes may continue to occur in the laws applicable to such terms and conditions and/or their interpretation by the courts.

If clauses in our standardized documents, contracts or terms and conditions are found to be void, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to customs and foreign trade regulations that may require us to modify our current business practices and incur increased costs or could result in a delay in processing goods through customs, which may limit our growth and cause us to suffer reputational damage.

We import a large number of goods and services as part of our day-to-day business and such imports and exports may be subject to customs or foreign trade regulations. In addition, we rely on third parties, in particular our sellers, to make certain import, export or customs declarations and we therefore only have limited control over such declarations. Any non-compliance with customs or foreign trade regulations could lead to the imposition of fines or result in our goods being seized, in which case delivery of our goods may be delayed or fail entirely. If these laws or regulations were to change or were violated by our management, employees or sellers, we could experience delays in shipments of our goods, be subject to fines or penalties, or suffer reputational harm, which could reduce demand for our services and negatively impact our results of operations.

Legal requirements are frequently changed and subject to interpretation, and we are unable to predict the ultimate cost of compliance with these requirements or their effects on our operations. We may be required to make significant expenditures or modify our business practices to comply with existing or future laws and regulations, which may increase our costs and materially limit our ability to operate our business.

Our business depends on our ability to source and distribute goods in a timely manner. As a result, we rely on the free flow of goods through open and operational ports worldwide. Labor disputes or other disruptions at ports create significant risks for our business, particularly if work slowdowns, lockouts, strikes or other disruptions occur. Any of these factors could result in reduced sales or cancelled orders, which may limit our growth and damage our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business is subject to the general tax environment in the countries in which we currently operate, and any changes to this tax environment may increase our tax burden.

Our business is subject to the general tax environment in the countries in which we currently operate. Our ability to use tax loss carryforwards and other favorable tax provisions depends on national tax laws and their interpretation in these countries. Changes in tax legislation, administrative practices or case law could increase our tax burden and such changes might even occur retroactively. Furthermore, tax laws may be interpreted differently by the competent tax authorities and courts, and their interpretation may change at any time, which could lead to an increase of our tax burden. For example, in a number of countries, tax authorities seek to characterize income from the provision of services as royalties under their domestic legislation and/or tax treaties, which would lead to the imposition of withholding tax and may significantly increase our tax burden. In addition, legislators and tax authorities may change territoriality rules or their interpretation for the application of value-added tax (“VAT”) on cross border services, which may lead to significant additional payments for past and future periods. In addition, court decisions are sometimes ignored by competent tax authorities or overruled by higher courts, which could lead to higher legal and tax advisory costs and create significant uncertainty.

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Tax authorities in various countries are currently reviewing the appropriate treatment of e-commerce activities. Recently, several countries in Africa have imposed new, or increased existing, taxes on e-commerce and mobile services. For example, in 2018, Uganda imposed a daily tax of 200 Uganda shillings (equivalent to $0.05) on Over-the-Top (“OTT”) services including Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Users who fail to make this daily payment are unable to access the designated OTT services. Additionally, Uganda imposed a new mobile money transfer tax in 2018. The tax, originally introduced as a 1% tax on receiving payments and withdrawals, was later reduced to a 0.5% tax on withdrawals only. The Ivory Coast imposed a similar 0.5% tax on mobile money transfers in January 2018. Lastly, Kenya has been taxing mobile money transfers for several years and increased its mobile money transfer tax from 10% to 12% in late 2018. It is possible that other African countries will enact new taxes on OTT services, mobile money transfers or other e-commerce and mobile services or that countries with existing e-commerce and mobile service taxes will raise their current tax rates. Existing or new e-commerce and mobile service taxes may increase the cost of mobile phone usage and data plans for consumers, which may discourage mobile phone usage or slow the rate of mobile phone adoption across our markets. Additionally, taxes on mobile money transfers may increase the costs associated with and discourage the use of JumiaPay.

Moreover, due to the global nature of our e-commerce business, various countries might attempt to levy additional sales, income or other taxes relating to our activities. Such new tax regulation may subject us or our consumers to additional taxes, which would increase our tax burden and may reduce the attractiveness of our online offering. In certain countries in which we operate, VAT rates are especially high. For example, the VAT is 20% in Morocco and 18.2% in Ivory Coast. In such countries, we face the risk that organizational sellers on our marketplace may attempt to transact as individual sellers in order to avoid the responsibility of collecting VAT. Sellers may also seek to structure their operations in a way that facilitates the non-payment of VAT. New taxes could also result in additional costs necessary to collect the data required to assess these taxes and to remit them to the relevant tax authorities.

In some of the countries in which we currently operate, tax authorities may also use the tax system to advance their agenda and may exercise their discretion in ways that may be perceived as selective or arbitrary, or in a manner that could be seen as being influenced by political or commercial considerations. Accordingly, we may face unfounded tax claims in such countries.

We are subject to audits by tax officials in various jurisdictions in which we operate. For example, in Germany, the authorities challenged the status of some of the Group’s German partnerships as entrepreneurs. A loss of such entrepreneur status would have resulted in substantial additional VAT assessments. We have reached a joint understanding with the competent tax authorities, according to which the German partnerships in question should be regarded as entrepreneurs, provided certain conditions are met. We cannot guarantee that the tax authorities will not change their view on the status of such partnerships for past or future periods. While we are making good progress toward meeting these conditions, any failure to meet them in a timely manner, or any changes in the tax authorities’ view, may result in substantial additional VAT assessments.

We are also in ongoing discussions with the German authorities regarding corporate income tax treatment of services rendered by these partnerships. While we believe the position of the German tax authorities on this issue is not correct and would not be successful if challenged in court, we may be required to pay additional corporate income taxes in an upper single to very low double digit euro million amount if the tax authorities’ view were to prevail and have taken provisions accordingly. See also Note 16 to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

Taxes actually assessed in future tax audits for periods not yet covered by this last tax audit may exceed the taxes already paid by us. As a result, we may be required to make significant additional tax payments with respect to previous periods. Furthermore, the competent tax authorities could revise their original tax assessments (e.g., with respect to the recognition of invoiced value added taxes). Any tax assessments that deviate from our expectations could lead to an increase in our tax burden. In addition, we may be required to pay interest on these additional taxes as well as late filing penalties.

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Changes in the tax environment and future tax audits could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Certain of our cross-border business dealings may trigger unforeseen adverse tax consequences.

We are an internationally operating enterprise continuously engaged in cross-border business dealings which may trigger unforeseen adverse tax consequences in Germany and abroad, in particular with respect to transfer pricing and double taxation issues. While our business operations focus on six regions in Africa, our Company is incorporated in Germany and we manage our operations on a decentralized basis. Our technology and data team is predominantly located in Portugal. The decentralized nature of our organization may lead to interpretative questions by tax authorities as to where we have to pay taxes on our income or assets. Any reassessment of our current status could lead to substantial tax claims and/or costly and time consuming administrative and legal proceedings.

This high degree of interconnectivity necessitates the cross-border transfer of certain goods and services including services, from and between us, our subsidiaries and affiliates. Tax authorities often challenge the prices charged for intra-group services. Past and current intra-group transfer prices, particularly those for services rendered by the Company, including the provision of technology, management services, personnel or financing could be deemed to not be at arm’s length.

Additionally, in light of the fact that these intra-group services are usually not offered to third parties, it may become difficult for us to mitigate intra-group transfer price risks by documenting the prices, particularly paid in comparable transactions by or with independent third parties. The preparation of customary transfer price documentation may also be delayed due to the need to hire an external advisory team with the resources to prepare such transfer price documentation for us.

In addition, we may be unaware of or infringe upon tariffs, quotas, customs and export control regulations, trading bans or similar restrictions, thereby creating exposure to the risk of fines and sanctions.

The materialization of any of the risks described above could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to tax laws and regulations in Germany and numerous other countries. Our tax burden may increase as a consequence of future tax treatment of dividend payments, non-deductibility of interest payments, current or future tax assessments or court proceedings based on changes in domestic or foreign tax laws and double taxation treaties or changes in the application or interpretation thereof. We agreed to indemnify the members of our management board against tax liabilities of up to €40 million.

We are a German tax resident and, accordingly, subject to the tax laws and regulations of Germany. We operate in a number of African countries and have shared service centers in certain European countries as well as in the United Arab Emirates, subjecting several of our entities to the tax laws of these countries. Our tax burden depends on various aspects of tax laws and regulations including double taxation treaties as well as their respective application and interpretation. Amendments to tax laws and double taxation treaties, for example, an increase of statutory tax rates or the limitation of double tax relief, may have a retroactive effect, and their application or interpretation by tax authorities or courts is subject to change and may cause an increase in our tax burden. Furthermore, tax authorities occasionally limit court decisions to their specific facts by way of non-application decrees. This may also increase our tax burden.

Prior to the completion of this offering, we streamlined our group structure by exchanging interests held by current or former members of management, employees, supporters or business partners in our subsidiaries into shares of the Company. While we do not believe that these transactions triggered adverse tax consequences for which we are liable, there is no guarantee that tax authorities will agree with this assessment.

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We have agreed to indemnify the members of the management board against income tax liabilities they may incur with respect to income received from us, including from share-based payment instruments, in excess of a total tax liability of 25% of the relevant income in countries where they do not have their primary residence up to a total amount of €40 million.

As a holding company, our ability to distribute dividends depends largely on dividend payments made by our subsidiaries. Among other things, these intra-group distributions are subject to withholding tax ( Kapitalertragsteuer ) on multiple intra-group levels. No assurance can be given that the taxation of intra-group distributions may not negatively affect our ability to pay dividends in the future.

Thin-capitalization rules in various countries restrict the tax deductibility of interest expenses and the possibility of companies to carry forward non-deducted interest expenses to future assessment periods. As the interpretation of these rules is not entirely clear in many countries, it cannot be ruled out that the competent tax authorities will take a different view regarding the tax deductibility of interest expenses than our entities.

Our entities are or may become party to tax proceedings. The outcome of such tax proceedings may not be predictable and may be detrimental to us.

The materialization of any of the risks described above could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Risks Related to our Initial Public Offering and Ownership of our ADSs

There has been no public market for our ADSs or our ordinary shares prior to this offering, and there is no guarantee that an active and liquid market for our ADSs will develop.

Prior to this initial public offering, there was no public market for our ADSs or our ordinary shares, and we cannot assure you that one will develop or be sustained after this offering. If a market does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell your ADSs. Public trading markets may also experience volatility and disruption. This may affect the pricing of our ADSs in the secondary market, the transparency and availability of trading prices, the liquidity of our ADSs and the extent of regulation applicable to us. We cannot predict the prices at which our ADSs will trade. The initial public offering price for our ADSs will be determined through our negotiations with the underwriters and may not bear any relationship to the market price at which our ADSs will trade after this offering or to any other established criteria of the value of our business.

In the course of past financing rounds we received investments based on valuations of our business by individual investors at the relevant times. Such individual valuations were not confirmed by independent experts and reflect the personal valuation criteria of the relevant investors as well as the specific circumstances under which these investments were made. Consequently, these valuations may have exceeded the valuations at which other parties would have been willing to invest in us. Potential investors should therefore not place undue reliance on past valuations.

In addition, it is possible that, in future quarters, our operating results may be below the expectations of securities analysts and investors. As a result of these and other factors, the price of our ADSs may decline.

Investor perceptions of risks in emerging economies could reduce investor appetite for investments in these countries or for the securities of issuers operating in these countries.

Investing in securities of issuers in emerging markets generally involves a higher degree of risk than investing in securities of corporate or sovereign issuers from more developed countries. Economic crises in one or more emerging market countries may reduce overall investor appetite for securities of emerging market issuers generally, even for emerging market issuers located outside the regions directly affected by the crises. Past economic crises in emerging markets, such as in South America and Russia, have often resulted in significant

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outflows of international capital from emerging markets and caused emerging market issuers to face higher costs for raising funds, and in some cases have effectively impeded access to international capital markets for extended periods.

Thus, even if the economies of the countries in which we operate remain relatively stable, financial turmoil in any emerging market country could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The market price of our ADSs could fluctuate significantly, which could result in substantial losses for purchasers of our ADSs in this offering.

Following this offering, the market price of our ADSs will be affected by the supply and demand for our ADSs, which may be influenced by numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

As a result, the market price of our ADSs may be subject to substantial fluctuation.

In addition, general market conditions and fluctuation of share prices and trading volumes could lead to pressure on the market price of our ADSs, even if there may not be a reason for this based on our business performance or earnings outlook. Furthermore, investors in the secondary market may view our business more critically than investors in this offering, which could adversely affect the market price of our ADSs in the secondary market. In addition, prices for e-commerce or technology companies have traditionally been more volatile compared to share prices for companies from other industries.

If the market price of our ADSs declines as a result of the realization of any of these risks, investors could lose part or all of their investment in our ADSs.

Additionally, in the past, when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have sometimes instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the shares. If any of our shareholders brought a lawsuit against us, we could incur substantial costs defending the lawsuit. Such a lawsuit could also divert the time and attention of our management from our business, which could significantly harm our profitability and reputation.

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Following this offering, the closing of the Concurrent Private Placement and the issuance of the Anti-Dilution Shares, our existing shareholders will retain a significant interest in us, and their interests may conflict with ours or those of our other shareholders.

Following completion of this offering, the closing of the Concurrent Private Placement and the issuance of the Anti-Dilution Shares to existing shareholders, our existing shareholders will continue to own approximately 75.3% of our outstanding share capital (if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs from us in full) and therefore retain a majority of the votes in our shareholders’ meeting. The interests of our existing shareholders may deviate from our interests or those of our other shareholders. Certain measures and transactions, including dividend payments, may be impossible to implement without the support of our existing shareholders. In addition, some of our existing shareholders hold various interests in a number of companies, including companies active in the e-commerce industry, and conflicts of interests may arise between these investments and our interests.

Conflicts between the interests of our existing shareholders and our interests or those of our other shareholders may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future.

We have not yet paid any dividends to our shareholders and do not currently intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future. Under German corporate law, dividends may only be distributed from our net retained profit ( Bilanzgewinn ). The net retained profit is calculated based on our unconsolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with German generally accepted accounting principles of the German Commercial Code ( Handelsgesetzbuch ). Such accounting principles differ from International Financial Reporting Standards, as adopted by the European Union, in material respects.

Our ability to pay dividends therefore depends upon the availability of sufficient net retained profits. In addition, future financing arrangements may contain covenants that impose restrictions on our business and on our ability to pay dividends under certain circumstances.

Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our management board and will depend upon our results of operations, financial condition, contractual restrictions, including restrictions imposed by existing or future financing agreements, restrictions imposed by applicable laws and other factors management deems relevant.

Consequently, we may not pay dividends in the foreseeable future, or at all, and any return on investment in our ADSs is solely dependent upon the appreciation of the price of our ADSs on the open market, which may not occur. See “Dividend Policy.”

We will incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives and corporate governance practices.

As a public company, and particularly if we were to lose our status as an emerging growth company in the future, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of the NYSE and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect that these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance.

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We are evaluating these rules and regulations, and cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs. These rules and regulations are often subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices.

We are not currently required to comply with the rules of the SEC implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, and therefore are not required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for that purpose. Upon becoming a publicly traded company, we will be required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which will require management to certify financial and other information in our annual reports and attest to the effectiveness of control over financial reporting. Though we will be required to disclose material changes in internal control over financial reporting on an annual basis, we will not be required to make our annual assessment of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the year of our second annual report required to be filed with the SEC.

To achieve compliance with Section 404 within the prescribed period, we will be engaged in documenting and evaluating our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, potentially engage outside consultants and adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. We currently have limited appropriately qualified accounting personnel, and we have begun the process of evaluating the adequacy of our accounting personnel staffing and training level and other matters related to our internal control over financial reporting. Despite our efforts, our overall control environment is still immature and may expose us to errors, losses or fraud. Hence, there is a risk that we will not be able to conclude, within the prescribed timeframe or at all, that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by Section 404. If we identify material weaknesses once we are a public company, it could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements. As a result, the market price of our ADSs could be negatively affected, and we could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our ADSs are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.

Additionally, while we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to include an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. Furthermore, after the date we are no longer an emerging growth company, our independent registered public accounting firm will only be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting depending on our market capitalization. An independent assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls could detect problems that our management’s assessment might not.

The consequences of being a public company could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not be able to adapt our internal controls as well as our reporting and risk management procedures to the requirements of a public company.

We will need to develop the expertise necessary to comply with the numerous regulatory and other requirements applicable to publicly listed companies, including requirements relating to corporate governance, listing standards, notification requirements and securities and investor relations issues, which will divert management attention and may prove costly.

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During the process of adapting our internal controls as well as our reporting and risk management procedures to the requirements of a publicly listed company, we may discover material weaknesses or significant deficiencies and there is no guarantee that we will be able to implement adequate procedures in a timely manner, or at all. Consequently, we may be unable to detect and react to risks arising in the course of our business. In addition, any failure to establish or maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial reporting could limit our ability to report our financial results accurately and in a timely manner or to detect and prevent fraud.

An inability to adapt our internal controls as well as our reporting and risk management procedures to the requirements of a public company could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Future offerings of debt or equity securities by us could adversely affect the market price of our ADSs, and future issuances of equity securities could lead to a substantial dilution of our shareholders.

We may require additional capital in the future to finance our business operations and growth. The Company may seek to raise such capital through the issuance of additional ADSs or debt securities with conversion rights (e.g., convertible bonds and option rights). An issuance of additional ADSs or debt securities with conversion rights could potentially reduce the market price of our ADSs and the Company currently cannot predict the amounts and terms of such future offerings.

If such offerings of equity or debt securities with conversion rights are made without granting subscription rights to our existing shareholders, these offerings would dilute the economic and voting rights of our existing shareholders. In addition, such dilution may arise from the acquisition or investments in companies in exchange, fully or in part, for newly issued ADSs, options granted to our business partners or from the exercise of stock options by our employees in the context of existing or future stock option programs or the issuance of ADSs to employees in the context of existing or future employee participation programs.

Any future issuance of ADSs could reduce the market price of our ADSs and dilute the holdings of existing shareholders.

Future sales by major shareholders could materially adversely affect the market price of our ADSs.

For various reasons, shareholders may sell all or some of our ADSs, including in order to diversify their investments. Sales of a substantial number of our ADSs in the public market following the successful completion of the offering, or the perception that such sales might occur, could depress the market price of our ADSs and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.

We may not be able to collect the proceeds from the Concurrent Private Placement or the issuance of the Anti-Dilution Shares.

The Concurrent Private Placement is expected to close shortly after completion of this public offering, subject to completion of this offering, our shareholders’ meeting resolving upon the capital increase for the issuance of shares to Mastercard Europe SA and the execution of the commercial agreement. The payment from Mastercard Europe SA is due in full upon issuance of the shares to Mastercard Europe SA. In addition, our existing shareholders are entitled to subscribe for Anti-Dilution Shares against payment of €1.00 per ordinary share. If Mastercard Europe SA or our existing shareholders entitled to Anti-Dilution Shares refuse to pay for their shares, our proceeds from the Concurrent Private Placement and/or the issuance of Anti-Dilution Shares will be lower than expected.

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We have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering, the Concurrent Private Placement and the issuance of the Anti-Dilution Shares and may not use them effectively.

Our management will have considerable discretion in the application of the net proceeds from this offering, the Concurrent Private Placement and the issuance of the Anti-Dilution Shares and could spend the proceeds in ways that do not improve our results of operations or enhance the value of our ADSs. Shareholders may not be able to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. We have not quantified or allocated any specific portion or range of the net proceeds to us for any particular purpose. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could result in financial losses that could have a material adverse effect on our business and cause the price of our ADSs to decline. See “Use of Proceeds.”

An investment in our ADSs by an investor whose principal currency is not the Euro may be affected by exchange rate fluctuation.

Our ADSs are, and any dividends to be paid in respect of them will be, denominated in euros. An investment in our ADSs by an investor whose principal currency is not the euro will expose such investor to exchange rate risks. Any depreciation of the euro in relation to the principal currency of the respective investor will reduce the value of the investment in our ADSs or any dividends in relation to such currency.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for our ADSs and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our ADSs will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If securities or industry analyst coverage results in downgrades of our ADSs or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our ADS price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets and demand for our ADSs could decrease, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for our ADSs to decline significantly.

Investors may have difficulty enforcing civil liabilities against us or the members of our management and supervisory board.

We are incorporated in Germany and conduct substantially all of our operations in Africa through our subsidiaries. In total, five members of our management board and supervisory board are non-residents of the United States. The majority of our assets and the assets of half of the members of our management board and supervisory board are located outside the United States. As a result, it may not be possible, or may be very difficult, to serve process on company representatives or the company in the United States, or to enforce judgments obtained in U.S. courts against company representatives or the company based on civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States.

There is no treaty between the United States and Germany for the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments (other than arbitration awards) in civil and commercial matters. Therefore, a final judgment for the payment of money rendered by any federal or state court in the United States based on civil liability, whether or not predicated solely upon the U.S. federal securities laws, would not be enforceable in Germany unless the underlying claim is re-litigated before a German court of competent jurisdiction.

Based on the foregoing, there can be no assurance that U.S. investors will be able to enforce any judgments obtained in U.S. courts in civil and commercial matters, including judgments under the U.S. federal securities laws, against us, members of our management board and supervisory board, or our senior management. In addition, there is doubt as to whether a German court would impose civil liability on us, the members of our management and supervisory board or our senior management in an original action predicated solely upon the U.S. federal securities laws brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in Germany against us or such members, respectively.

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Holders of our ADSs may be subject to limitations on transfer of their ADSs.

Our ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deems it advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

The exercise of voting rights of holders of our ADSs is limited by the terms of the deposit agreement.

Holders of our ADSs may exercise their voting rights with respect to the ordinary shares underlying their ADSs only in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Upon receipt of voting instructions from a holder of our ADSs in the manner set forth in the deposit agreement, the depositary for our ADSs will endeavor to vote such holder’s underlying ordinary shares in accordance with these instructions. Under our articles of association, the minimum notice period required for convening a shareholders’ meeting corresponds to the statutory minimum period, which is currently 36 days. When a shareholders’ meeting is convened, a holder of our ADSs may not receive sufficient notice of a shareholders’ meeting to permit such holder to withdraw its ordinary shares to allow the holder to cast its vote with respect to any specific matter at the meeting. In addition, the depositary and its agents may not be able to send voting instructions to a holder of our ADSs or carry out such holder’s voting instructions in a timely manner. We will make all reasonable efforts to cause the depositary to extend voting rights to a holder of our ADSs in a timely manner, but such holder may not receive the voting materials in time to ensure that such holder can instruct the depositary to vote its shares. Furthermore, the depositary and its agents will not be responsible for any failure to carry out any instructions to vote, for the manner in which any vote is cast or for the effect of any such vote. As a result, a holder of our ADSs may not be able to exercise its right to vote and may lack recourse if the ordinary shares are not voted as requested by such holder.

The rights of shareholders in companies subject to German corporate law differ in material respects from the rights of shareholders of corporations incorporated in the United States.

We are a stock corporation ( Aktiengesellschaft ) incorporated under German law. Our corporate affairs are governed by our articles of association and by the laws governing stock corporations incorporated in Germany. The rights of shareholders and the responsibilities of members of our management board and supervisory board may be different from the rights and obligations of shareholders in companies governed by the laws of U.S. jurisdictions. In the performance of their duties, our management board and supervisory board are required by German law to consider the interests of our company, its shareholders, its employees and other stakeholders. It is possible that some of these parties will have interests that are different from, or in addition to, your interests as a shareholder.

German and European insolvency laws are substantially different from U.S. insolvency laws and may offer our shareholders less protection than they would have under U.S. insolvency laws.

As a company with its registered office in Germany, we are subject to German insolvency laws in the event any insolvency proceedings are initiated against us including, among other things, Regulation (EU) 2015/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 20, 2015 on insolvency proceedings. Should courts in another European country determine that the insolvency laws of that country apply to us in accordance with and subject to such EU regulations, the courts in that country could have jurisdiction over the insolvency proceedings initiated against us. Insolvency laws in Germany or the relevant other European country, if any, may offer our shareholders less protection than they would have under U.S. insolvency laws and make it more difficult for our shareholders to recover the amount they could expect to recover in a liquidation under U.S. insolvency laws.

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We are eligible to be treated as an emerging growth company, as defined in the Securities Act, and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our ADSs less attractive to investors, given that we may rely on these exemptions.

We are eligible to be treated as an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, presenting only limited selected financial data in the registration statement on Form F-1 of which this prospectus is a part and not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 in subsequent Annual Reports filed on Form 20-F. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information that they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if our total annual gross revenue exceeds $1.07 billion, if we issue more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during any three-year period, or if we are a large accelerated filer and the market value of our ADSs held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of any second quarter before that time.

We cannot predict if investors will find our ADSs less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our ADSs less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ADSs and our ADS price may be more volatile.

As a foreign private issuer, we will not be subject to U.S. proxy rules and will be subject to Exchange Act reporting obligations that, to some extent, are more lenient and less frequent than those of a U.S. domestic public company.

Upon completion of this offering, we will report under the Exchange Act as a non-U.S. company with foreign private issuer status. Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act and although we are subject to German laws and regulations with regard to such matters and intend to furnish quarterly trading updates and half year interim reports to the SEC, we are exempt from certain provisions of the Exchange Act that are applicable to U.S. domestic public companies, including (1) the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act, (2) the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their share ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time and (3) the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q containing unaudited financial and other specified information, although we intend to provide certain quarterly information on Form 6-K. In addition, foreign private issuers are not required to file their annual report on Form 20-F until 120 days after the end of each fiscal year, while U.S. domestic issuers that are accelerated filers are required to file their annual report on Form 10-K within 75 days after the end of each fiscal year and U.S. domestic issuers that are large accelerated filers are required to file their annual report on Form 10-K within 60 days after the end of each fiscal year. Foreign private issuers are also exempt from Regulation FD, which is intended to prevent issuers from making selective disclosures of material information. As a result of all of the above, holders of our ADSs may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of a company that is not a foreign private issuer.

We may lose our foreign private issuer status in the future, which could result in significant additional costs and expenses.

As discussed above, we are a foreign private issuer, and therefore, we are not required to comply with all of the periodic disclosure and current reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. The determination of foreign private issuer status is made annually on the last business day of an issuer’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, and, accordingly, the next determination will be made with respect to us on June 30, 2019.

In the future, we would lose our foreign private issuer status if (1) more than 50% of our outstanding voting securities are owned by U.S. residents and (2) a majority of our directors or executive officers are U.S. citizens or

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residents, or we fail to meet additional requirements necessary to avoid loss of foreign private issuer status. If we lose our foreign private issuer status, we will be required to file with the SEC periodic reports and registration statements on U.S. domestic issuer forms, which are more detailed and extensive than the forms available to a foreign private issuer. We will also have to mandatorily comply with U.S. federal proxy requirements, and our officers, directors and principal shareholders will become subject to the short-swing profit disclosure and recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, we will lose our ability to rely upon exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements under the listing rules of the NYSE. As a U.S. listed public company that is not a foreign private issuer, we would incur significant additional legal, accounting and other expenses that we would not incur as a foreign private issuer. These expenses would relate to, among other things, the obligation to present our financial information in accordance with U.S. GAAP in the future. Additionally, a loss of our foreign private issuer status would divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

As we are a foreign private issuer and intend to follow certain home country corporate governance practices, holders of our ADSs may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all NYSE corporate governance requirements.

As a foreign private issuer, we have the option to follow certain home country corporate governance practices rather than those of the NYSE, provided that we disclose the requirements we are not following and describe the home country practices we are following. The standards applicable to us are considerably different than the standards applied to domestic U.S. issuers. For instance, we are not required to:

We have relied on and intend to continue to rely on some of these exemptions. As a result, holders of our ADSs may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all NYSE corporate governance requirements.

The interpretation of the treatment of ADSs by the German tax authorities is subject to change.

The specific treatment of ADSs under German tax law is based on administrative provisions by the fiscal authorities, which are not codified law and are subject to change. Tax authorities may modify their interpretation and the current treatment of ADSs may change, as the circular issued by the German Federal Ministry of Finance ( BMF-Schreiben ), dated November 8, 2017, reference number IV C 1 – S 1980-1/16/10010 :010 (as amended), shows. According to this new circular, ADSs are not treated as capital participation ( Kapitalbeteiligung ) within the meaning of Section 2 para. 8 of the Investment Tax Code ( Investmentsteuergesetz ). Such changes in the interpretation by the fiscal authorities may have adverse effects on the taxation of investors.

We may become a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”), which could result in adverse United States federal income tax consequences to United States investors.

Based on the projected composition of our income and valuation of our assets, including goodwill, we do not expect to be a PFIC for our current taxable year, and we do not expect to become one in the future, although there can be no assurance in this regard. The determination of whether or not we are a PFIC is made on an annual basis and will depend on the composition of our income and assets from time to time. Specifically, we will be

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classified as a PFIC for United States federal income tax purposes if either: (1) 75% or more of our gross income in a taxable year is passive income, or (2) the average percentage of our assets by value in a taxable year which produce or are held for the production of passive income (which includes cash) is at least 50%. The calculation of the value of our assets will be based, in part, on the quarterly market value of our ADSs, which is subject to change.

Although we do not expect to be a PFIC, it is not entirely clear how the contractual arrangements between us and our variable interest entities will be treated for purposes of the PFIC rules. If it were determined that we do not own the stock of our variable interest entities for United States federal income tax purposes, we may be treated as a PFIC.

If we are or were to become a PFIC, such characterization could result in adverse United States federal income tax consequences to a holder of our ADSs if such holder is a United States investor. For example, if we are a PFIC, our United States investors will become subject to increased tax liabilities under United States federal income tax laws and regulations and will become subject to burdensome reporting requirements. We cannot assure that we will not be a PFIC for our current taxable year or any future taxable year.

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