Morocco’s Real Estate Portal Mubawab Buys Jumia House’s North African Portals 

Leading Moroccan real estate portal that was bought Dubai-based Emerging Markets Property Group in 2018, Mubawab, has taken full control of Jumia’s North African property portals.

The deal buys the portals in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, is being closed just a few months after Jumia’s NYSE listing and EMPG’s USD 100 Mn Series D.

The financial details of the deal remain undisclosed, and Jumia’s official statement says that the transaction allows it to focus on its core marketplace of physical goods and digital services while spreading its wings into payments operations (JumiaPay) and logistics (Jumia Logistics).

On Mubawab’s side of the development, the firm believes the purchase consolidates its position as the leading real estate website in North Africa, “while providing access to the most promising real estate markets in the Maghreb, with more than 90 million people”.

As at the time of reporting, Jumia’s House’ sites in the affected countries are now redirecting to Mubawab’s website.

A Taste For The Rocket

Interestingly, Emerging Markets Group has been on what can be termed to be a shopping spree as of late. The company has been altogether buying small competitors in North Africa and the Middle East.

More interestingly, apart from Mubawab, all the acquisitions EMPG has made in the past 12 months were companies backed by Rocket Internet. It acquired Lamudi in Bangladesh, UAE, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Mubawab has also bought Jumia House in the Maghreb region. Given that Jumia House holds a commanding staff in the Moroccan, Tunisian and Algerian regions, Mubawab has somewhat become more than a leading real estate portal in North Africa.

Co-founder and CEO of Mubawab, Kevin Gormand said his company has confidence in the keen ability to make credible real estate deals available to customers via a sophisticated platform.

“We are excited to build on our success and experience in Morocco to provide a broader platform, maximizing consumer reach, and visibility while providing personalized and local support to our customers,” he said.

Sacha Poignonnec, co-founder and co-CEO of Jumia, said, “We believe in the potential of real estate portals in Africa, and we have built a great platform across Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria to seize this opportunity. We are confident that Mubawab will sustain the success that Jumia House has had in these markets.”