Zilingo Raises $54M to Make Apparel Sourcing Easy, Launches B2B Platform in US
The Singapore-based start up will use the funds to launch Zilingo Asia Mall (ZAM) in the US
SINGAPORE, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Three-year-old Southeast Asian ecommerce upstart Zilingo (www.zilingo.com) expands into America's online marketplace with its new B2B platform, Zilingo Asia Mall (ZAM). Zilingo recently closed a $54M Series C fundraising round led by Sofina, Burda Principal Investments and Sequoia Capital India with Amadeus Capital joining as a new investor. All existing investors from previous rounds participated in the Series C as well including Tim Draper, SIG, Venturra, Beenext and Manik Arora.
Founded by Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor in October 2015, Zilingo was built to connect a highly fragmented landscape of fashion supply to fashion lovers across Asia. "While travelling across Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines, I saw the labyrinthine markets across this region selling all kinds of clothes offline - from slogan t-shirts to maxi dresses, from formal suits to leather loafers," says Bose. "It got me thinking as to why these merchants were not available online and that's where the idea of Zilingo sparked."
Zilingo, a play on the word 'Zillions' and alluding to the amount of products and possibilities the company provides, will allocate the fresh capital to launch its B2B extension, ZAM, in the US market as well as boost its Indonesia business and other ASEAN markets.
ZAM is the first fashion and lifestyle focused all-in-one procurement solution that extends beyond the catalogue and connector ecommerce model. It provides a one-stop shop for sourcing competitive pricing, procurement, merchandising, quality control, customer care and flexible credit, all done with English speaking staff to cut the errors that come from language barriers.
Using technology, Zilingo is leveling the playing field and enabling increased efficiencies for offline fashion merchants and designers in an increasingly digital world. Zilingo is using its own proprietary algorithms to track and project fast-moving, ever-changing, modular trends using AI – then aggregating upcoming trends to assist merchants and buyers. In addition to trend analysis, the platform also provides content and photography services, product sourcing, financial services and more advanced typically only reserved for large brands and retailers.
"Major global fashion brands source most apparel from Asia at $1.5/piece for massive quantities of over a million pieces," noted a representative for Sequoia India. "We saw how Zilingo could leverage its existing Asian supply chain network they built from its consumer business to drive value for the American and European fashion businesses. ZAM has figured out how retailers can source quality, current products at $2/piece for quantities as low as 200 and also make it an easy experience."
"The ZAM customer is anyone who makes or wants to make their own apparel, a retailer or reseller, or the procurement people in mid to large size fashion brands," says Bose. "Our team truly believes that no merchant is too big or too small to grow their business online and that every fashion label, big or small, should be placed on a level playing field."
The US launch is the next step in the ZAM expansion following a wildly successful launch on its home turf in Southeast Asia. "If Amazon is the 'Everything Store' then our ZAM B2B platform is the 'Everything Manufacturer,' using technology to make an industry that's traditionally very friction-ridden into one that's more accessible than it ever has been to Western fashion markets," says Bose.
ZAM officially launches in the US on Friday, April 6th at www.zilingoasiamall.com.
About Zilingo
Founded by Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor in October 2015, Zilingo was built to connect a highly fragmented landscape of fashion supply to fashion lovers across Asia.
Zilingo is a fashion ecommerce platform that aggregates the small fashion sellers of Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia onto a single proprietary seller platform. It enables merchants to upload & manage their inventory in any language and using any currency, connecting them through 25 APIs with logistics, warehousing and payment providers, as well as services like loans, cataloging and insurance.
Today, Zilingo has grown 11x by revenues making it a one-of-a-kind product for over 10,000 merchants. The company has raised a total of $82 million to date and has offices in six major Asian cities with over 130 staff.
About Zilingo Asia Mall
ZAM is the B2B extension of Zilingo that allows merchants around the world to buy in bulk from Asian suppliers while extending beyond the catalogue and connector ecommerce model. The company supplies independent sellers with apparel, accessories, bags, shoes, and lifestyle products and does so with white glove service. ZAM provides a one-stop shop with high-level customer service providing sourcing and competitive pricing, procurement, merchandising, quality control, customer care and flexible credit, all done with English speaking staff to cut the errors that come from language barriers.
It's essentially a one stop shop for anyone who wants to become a seller but doesn't want to break the bank on deposits, spend time figuring out logistics, or commit to quantity overhead.
With over 10,000 small to medium enterprises using the platform to sell to over 5 million active global users, ZAM aspires to take Asian fashion to the world.
For more information or interview requests, please contact Emily Schumann at [email protected].
SOURCE Zilingo
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