Jabong's owner GFG raises $168M from existing investors AB Kinnevik and Rocket Internet

Global Fashion Group (GFG), the holding company of Gurgaon-based lifestyle fashion and apparel e-tailer Jabong.com, has raised €150 million ($167.7 million) from existing investors AB Kinnevik and Rocket Internet.

GFG will use the money to strengthen its fulfilment, marketing and product development capabilities in addition to building infrastructure, as per a press statement.

The new funding round values the company at €3.1 billion ($3.43 billion).

Post the fundraising, AB Kinnevik will own the majority stake of over 25 per cent stake in GFG while Rocket Internet's holding will come down to 21.9 per cent from 23.5 per cent.

"Kinnevik will invest its pro rata share of the financing round of €41 million and has undertaken to guarantee an additional part of the financing round jointly amounting to a total maximum commitment of €65 million," the statement said.

"The additional capital will give us a strong run-way and allow us to capitalise on the massive growth opportunity of fashion e-commerce in emerging markets," said Romain Voog, CEO of GFG.

Formed in 2011, the Luxembourg-based GFG was created by combining five e-commerce brands which continue to operate in emerging markets around the world. It includes India's Jabong, Latin America's Dafiti, Russia's Lamoda, Namshi of the Middle East and Australia's Zalora.

GFG has also acquired two Brazilian online fashion businesses—Kanui and Tricae—from AB Kinnevik in  share-for-share transactions. The two businesses will be integrated into Dafiti.

While Kanui is a sports and outdoor e-commerce company focusing on surf and skate lifestyle verticals, Tricae is a kids and baby e-commerce firm.

"The strategic acquisitions of Kanui and Tricae enable the integration of two great businesses that have a natural fit with our Latin American brand Dafiti and are acquired at attractive terms," said Voog.

In April this year, GFG had raised €32 million from Tengelmann Ventures and Verlinvest.

Gurgaon-based Jabong is one of the two top lifestyle e-tailers in India, along with Myntra. Jabong was earlier in talks with e-commerce giant Amazon for a potential acquisition worth $1.1-1.2 billion. However, the talks did not progress. Its rival Myntra was acquired by Flipkart last year.