Shares of Jumia Technologies AG jumped by as much as 71.4 percent in their debut on Friday, giving the African e-commerce company a market valuation of nearly two billion U.S. dollars as its stock peaked to the highest level at 24.86 U.S. dollars.

Jumia's shares opened at 18.95 U.S. dollars, 31.7 percent higher than its initial public offering price of 14.50 U.S. dollars. The company raised 196 million U.S. dollars in net proceeds from an offering of 13.5 million American Depository Shares.

The Nigeria-based online platform has been nicknamed the “African Alibaba,” and operates in 14 countries. Founded by French entrepreneurs Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara in 2012, the company boasts four million active customers as of December 31, 2018. Some of the 80,000 active merchants on its platform receive credit from the company in the absence of available bank lending, according to the Financial Times.

Jumia said it was pinning hope on an e-commerce boom in Africa to drive future growth, even though online shopping is still at a nascent stage in the continent.

The company said that less than one percent of retail sales in the African countries where the company operates was conducted online in 2018, compared to nearly 24 percent in China. Jumia has resorted to a cash-on-delivery model in markets where credit card and online payment systems are nascent.

Mobile broadband penetration in Africa was 32 percent in 2017 and was expected to rise to 73 percent by 2022, to more than 900 million subscribers, Jumia said, quoting data from Ovum.

Jumia lost 170 million euros (192.4 million U.S. dollars) on sales of 130.6 million euros (147.5 million U.S. dollars) in 2018, due to advertising cost and technology spending.

(With inputs from Reuters)