Jumia, an e-commerce company based in Nigeria, may become the first African start-up to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Jumia says it could go public next month, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
The company, which was given a $1bn valuation in 2016, offers a range of online goods and has branched into food delivery, hotel and flight booking and mobile tariffs.
It had four million active consumers at the end of 2018.
The online retailer was founded in Lagos by two French entrepreneurs in 2012 and now offers services to most of the African population, in countries such as South Africa, Tanzania, Egypt and Ivory Coast.
Its largest shareholder is MTN, Africa’s biggest telecoms company.
No share price or valuation has been given but there is speculation Jumia could be valued at $1.5bn, despite the fact that it reported a loss of 170m euros ($192m) in 2018.
In documents filed in New York, Jumia warned it could not guarantee achieving or sustaining profitability in the future, citing challenges such as a robbery at its Kenyan warehouse, which saw merchandise worth $560,000 stolen.
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