Zalora gets USD26M funding and double-digit millions in revenue, builds app dev center in S’pore

Zalora, a Rocket Internet fashion online retailer, announced today that it has raised EUR 20M (USD 26M) in investment from Tengelmann, a German retail company.

It also revealed that it has set up a regional software development center in Singapore, and is currently achieving double digit millions USD in annualized revenue.

Tengelmann is no stranger to Rocket Internet companies. In January this year, it invested about USD 20M in Lazada, an Amazon-like e-commerce site. Both Lazada and Zalora are active in the region, with the latter serving eight markets in Asia-Pacific and stocking over 500 brands and 20,000 product variations.

Another regular investor in Rocket Internet is investment bank JP Morgan, which was the first outside investor for Zalora. The fashion outfit has since attracted funding from Summit Partners and Kinnevik — although news of their involvement have not been made official.

Regarding the regional development center, a Zalora spokesperson has said that Singapore was chosen over seven other lower-cost countries that Zalora operates in.

The reason is due to the talent pool, supplied from the country’s two top universities with computer science departments as well as students from the polytechnics.

The company is still actively recruiting to build Zalora’s web and mobile platform. While they released a mobile site recently, they are set to release a native app as well. They hope to bring better user interfaces and a personalization of shopping experiences through shopping histories, and other features.

Zalora’s technology roadmap will be planned and implemented out of its Singapore headquarters.