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Zilingo, an online platform that allows small merchants in South-east Asia to build scale, is reaching 'unicorn' status and is valued at about US$1 billion. Its founders, both in their 20s, started it with just US$30k each in 2015.
FASHION and lifestyle products platform Zilingo has raised US$226 million in equity in a series D funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
Other investors in the round were Temasek Holdings, Burda Principal Investments, Sofina, EDBI and existing investors.
The Singapore-based startup is now valued at US$970 million, said a Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter.
The latest round of financing comes just 10 months after Zilingo raised US$54 million in Series C funding, fresh from a US$18 million round in September 2017. Zilingo will use the fresh funds to invest in the infrastructure and technology needed to further integrate and digitise the fashion and beauty supply chain, and to expand in key markets including the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia in 2019. In a press statement, Zilingo said that revenue grew four times in the last 12 months.
The startup began in 2015 as a fashion and lifestyle marketplace, but has since expanded into the business-to-business (B2B) space by providing supply chain capabilities to fashion merchants. Those solutions help merchants to access manufacturers across Asia, and include tools to obtain procurement rates, logistics services, financial services, insurance, loans and analytics.
Zilingo launched the Zilingo Asia Mall in 2017, a B2B platform that allows merchants to procure seamlessly from factories.
Co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose told The Business Times that the firm is expanding into Australia and the Philippines because most of the fashion apparel sold in those countries are made in South-east Asia and South Asia. It aims to cut out the middlemen in the supply chain and make it more tech-enabled.
Many fashion manufacturing factories in South-east Asia and South Asia still use manual methods like recording figures in notebooks and on whiteboards.
Zilingo plans to supply them with software to handle processes like inventory management, bar-coding and invoicing, said Ms Bose. Having all the data in one place can also help manufacturers and merchants develop better credit scores and smoothen their access to financing.
Asked whether the company has any plans to list, Ms Bose said: "We definitely think of ourselves as a company that will be profitable soon and can potentially consider an IPO (initial public offering)."
That said, it is "probably too early to comment on that", she added.
Shailendra Singh, managing director at Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore, said: "Sequoia's investment in Zilingo dates back to when the company wasn't even yet incorporated and the name wasn't finalised.
Ankiti and team have rapidly transformed their original ideas about Zilingo into a platform company that serves fashion consumers, merchants, retailers, brands and manufacturers, collectively representing a multi-hundred billion dollar market size. We are amazed by the team's ability to envision and execute against such an ambitious roadmap and are excited to continue to support them on their journey."
https://www.sgsme.sg/news/zilingo-reportedly-near-unicorn-status-after-us226m-series-d-round
FASHION and lifestyle products platform Zilingo has raised US$226 million in equity in a series D funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
Other investors in the round were Temasek Holdings, Burda Principal Investments, Sofina, EDBI and existing investors.
The Singapore-based startup is now valued at US$970 million, said a Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter.
The latest round of financing comes just 10 months after Zilingo raised US$54 million in Series C funding, fresh from a US$18 million round in September 2017. Zilingo will use the fresh funds to invest in the infrastructure and technology needed to further integrate and digitise the fashion and beauty supply chain, and to expand in key markets including the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia in 2019. In a press statement, Zilingo said that revenue grew four times in the last 12 months.
The startup began in 2015 as a fashion and lifestyle marketplace, but has since expanded into the business-to-business (B2B) space by providing supply chain capabilities to fashion merchants. Those solutions help merchants to access manufacturers across Asia, and include tools to obtain procurement rates, logistics services, financial services, insurance, loans and analytics.
Zilingo launched the Zilingo Asia Mall in 2017, a B2B platform that allows merchants to procure seamlessly from factories.
Co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose told The Business Times that the firm is expanding into Australia and the Philippines because most of the fashion apparel sold in those countries are made in South-east Asia and South Asia. It aims to cut out the middlemen in the supply chain and make it more tech-enabled.
Many fashion manufacturing factories in South-east Asia and South Asia still use manual methods like recording figures in notebooks and on whiteboards.
Zilingo plans to supply them with software to handle processes like inventory management, bar-coding and invoicing, said Ms Bose. Having all the data in one place can also help manufacturers and merchants develop better credit scores and smoothen their access to financing.
Asked whether the company has any plans to list, Ms Bose said: "We definitely think of ourselves as a company that will be profitable soon and can potentially consider an IPO (initial public offering)."
That said, it is "probably too early to comment on that", she added.
Shailendra Singh, managing director at Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore, said: "Sequoia's investment in Zilingo dates back to when the company wasn't even yet incorporated and the name wasn't finalised.
Ankiti and team have rapidly transformed their original ideas about Zilingo into a platform company that serves fashion consumers, merchants, retailers, brands and manufacturers, collectively representing a multi-hundred billion dollar market size. We are amazed by the team's ability to envision and execute against such an ambitious roadmap and are excited to continue to support them on their journey."
https://www.sgsme.sg/news/zilingo-reportedly-near-unicorn-status-after-us226m-series-d-round
