Rocket Internet-incubated Southeast Asian lifestyle e-com venture Zalora raises $100M

Southeast Asia-focussed fashion and lifestyle e-tailer Zalora has raised $100 million from Summit Partners, Investment AB Kinnevik, Verlinvest and Tengelmann Group. This is a follow-on round by Tengelmann which invested around $26 million in the Rocket Internet-backed venture in March this year.

The capital will be used to scale up operations and gain a stronger foothold throughout Southeast Asia. The investment will also be used to extend Zalora's portfolio of 500 local and international brands, including over 20,000 SKUs in every country, as per a company statement.

Founded last year, Zalora is a fashion and lifestyle online shop present in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong. It has a team comprising more than 1,000 people across the region.

It is one among a bunch of cross-geography tech ventures incubated by Rocket Internet. The group also counts ventures such as online food ordering venture FoodPanda which has a global presence and also has an affiliate brand Hellofood. FoodPanda is also present in India. FoodPanda recently raised  $20 million from a group of investors, including Investment AB Kinnevik, a Sweden-based investment company and Phenomen Ventures, a Russia-based venture capital firm.

Another such cross-geography venture of Rocket Internet is coupon site CupoNation which is present in India too.

Interestingly, the group has chosen to have a separate venture in the same space as Zalora in India. Jabong, a lifestyle e-com venture, was started in the country in 2011 and has gained good traction in its vertical. Jabong also happens to be Rocket Internet's biggest bet in India in terms of money commitment.

With the German group attracting a string of external investors for its ventures, it's to be seen if its India ventures also see fresh funding initiatives.