Fashion ecommerce company Global Fashion Group raises €120M to accelerate growth strategy

Luxembourg-based Global Fashion Group (GFG), a publicly-traded fashion ecommerce company, has raised about €120M in a fresh round of funding. According to the company, it was done through a placement of 16.5 million new shares at a price of €7.30 per share.

The raised capital will be used to accelerate GFG’s expansion of its marketplace and fashion services businesses. Besides, the funds will also be invested in GFG’s technology to streamline its e-commerce business, currently popular in emerging markets, on a global scale.

“Today, GFG operates in growth markets with some of the lowest fashion and e-commerce penetration worldwide. With this transaction, we have even more firepower to accelerate fashion e-commerce adoption and to fuel the next chapter of our growth,” says co-chief executive officer, Patrick Schmidt. 

About Global Fashion Group

Founded in 2011, GFG develops an online platform for fashion markets. It offers brands the chance to enter the fashion e-commerce sector in promising economies. Last year, it began trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The company helps connect over 10,000 global, local, and own brands to its over 1 billion consumers through its four established ecommerce platforms: Dafiti, Lamoda, Zalora, and The Iconic.

Growth and development

GFG operates in various countries in Latin America, CIS, Southeast Asia, and ANZ. It has 10 fulfilment centres across 4 continents and employs people with deep local knowledge and expertise.

In the last one year (till 30 September 2020), GFG delivered 39.1 million orders to 15.4 million active customers, claims the company. 

Speaking on the development, Christoph Barchewitz, co-chief executive officer, at GFG says, “We are proud to have accelerated growth in 2020 while also expecting to deliver our first EBITDA – positive year – one year ahead of our original guidance. With more than 15 million customers, a record share of NMV coming from our Marketplace channel, and an unparalleled selection of fashion and lifestyle brands in our markets, we believe now is the right time to invest further in our customer value proposition, technology platform, and operational infrastructure.”

With this funding, GFG has agreed to a lock-up period of 180 days, subject to customary exemptions. Berenberg, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners on the transaction.

Image credit: Global Fashion Group