Zilingo plans to enter BD as part of key growth strategy

Asia's fastest growing digital marketplace Zilingo is looking forward to entering the Bangladesh market after raising US$ 226M in its recent Series D financing, bringing the total funds raised by the company to US$ 308M. This expansion in the Bangladesh market as well as other key Asian markets is a part of its growth strategy to expand its B2B business.

Key investors from this latest round of fund raising include Sequoia Capital, Temasek, Burda Principal Investments, Sofina, Singapore investment fund EDBI as well as existing investors.

The company plans to invest the capital for long-term value building across the supply chain, building new and deeper relationships with manufacturing partners in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and expansion into new markets such, Philippines, Indonesia and Australia this year.

"We have already applied to the government of Bangladesh and are now waiting for the approval. What we see is a huge market with immense potential to enter the global front further. The prevailing RMG sector in Bangladesh already has a notable footprint globally and we believe that we can compliment further growth", said Co-founder and CEO, Ankiti Bose.

She also included, "Zilingo is super keen to enter Bangladesh to source for our B2B business, which connects brands globally to Asian supply. We want to form deeper relationships with the manufacturers through an ecosystem of products, including software to improve efficiency. We can also offer them access to trade financing and automation technology. Essentially we are keen to find the right sourcing partners for our in-house private labels."

Zilingo started as a fashion and lifestyle marketplace in 2015 by Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor. While dealing with thousands of small sellers on their platforms, the founders saw their plight first hand. These businesses were not being able to improve their margins or grow any further due to the lack of access to technology & capital - while the big international brands kept growing aggressively. A small merchant neither has the volume to source as cheaply as large conglomerates nor do they have enough influence to get the best rates from service providers or warehouses.

This propelled Zilingo to expand its core business outside just their marketplace. The company soon developed its own proprietary suite of tools that enable fashion merchants' access to manufacturers across Asia and unlocks the best procurement rates, optimized logistics services, financial services, insurances, loans & analytics for them, said a statement.

Ankiti stated, "We are interested to even work with the smallest manufacturers. Any manufacturer which can produce 2000 units per item can be our potential partner. This, we believe, can be a win-win situation for everybody."

Zilingo is committed to accelerating growth by working closely with its merchant and manufacturing partners to leverage its proprietary technology and unlock the immense global potential and opportunity for manufacturers, merchants and consumers in fashion & beauty.