Chinese fashion e-tailer Vancl breaks half-billion funding mark with latest $100 million round

Chinese fashion brand and e-tailer Vancl announced today it just closed a seventh round of funding, according to Tech 163. The company raked in US$100 million, which might sound familiar, because that’s the same amount it raised in its last round in November. The latest investment came from Temasek, Ceyuan, IDG Capital Partners, and SAIF Partners.

Update 2/11/2014: QQ Tech reports Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun also participated in the round.

That brings total financing to US$522 million to date, with nearly half of that coming from a single round in May.

Setting it apart from other Chinese clothing retailers, online-only Vancl exclusively sells its own branded clothing – think Uniqlo or Gap – which is how it pulls off its most notable gimmick: letting customers model its clothes.

Vancl had a rough 2012 when it diversified its catalog, but in 2013 the company hit the reset button and returned to its roots: clothing. Some of that money went into acquiring a handful of fledgling clothing brands and expansion into Vietnam. Last October, Vancl ran into trouble when it failed to pay its suppliers on time, prompting a protest outside its office.

(Source: Tech 163 via TechNode)

(Editing by Josh Horwitz)