Southeast Asia’s Zilingo raises $54m Series C round
Zilingo, an online fashion marketplace focused on Southeast Asia, has raised a $54 million Series C round led by Burda Principal Investments, Sequoia Capital India and Sofina.
Amadeus Capital also participated in the round, alongside several existing backers, according to a statement. This is the first investment in the company by both Amadeus and Sofina. Zilingo will use the new capital to accelerate growth in Indonesia, enter new markets such as the Philippines, and improve service features. It also plans to expand its supply base in Cambodia and Bangladesh.
Founded in Thailand in 2015, Zilingo partners with small-scale operators that have trouble accessing larger online retail channels, providing a suite of support mechanisms for sellers including inventory management, pickup scheduling, and sales analytics. Sellers are charged a commission on order fulfillment.
Over 10,000 merchants use the platform, shipping to Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia. The company also has seller hubs in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh.
Burda Principal, the investment arm of European technology and media company Hubert Burda Media led Zilingo’s $17 million Series B round last year alongside Sequoia. Venturra Capital, SIG Asia Investments, Beenext and Wavemaker Partners also participated; all had previously contributed to the Sequoia-led Series A round in 2016.
“Zilingo is creating a complete ecosystem for merchants to grow their online fashion business in Southeast Asia and beyond,” said Albert Shyy, a principal at Burda Principal. “We believe there is an untapped opportunity across the entire Asian fashion value chain and continue to be very impressed with the company's trajectory.”
Zilingo’s most prominent competitor is Zalora, the online fashion portal founded by Rocket Internet that operates across Southeast Asia. Unlike Zalora, Zilingo primarily focuses on small fashion brands with only a few outlets, which other portals are reluctant to partner with individually due to their low market penetration.
Zilingo believes that by giving sellers the freedom to set their own prices and avoiding the cost of housing product itself, it can create a marketplace with unique appeal to consumers.
More on Southeast Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.