By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 22nd, 2024
Shein has already secured $553.4 million in over five fundraising rounds.
Chinese e-commerce firm Shein is looking forward to a $100 billion worth of valuation in upcoming fundraising, according to people familiar with the matter. Shein is an online store that sells trending apparel for males, females, young and old. Headquartered in Jiangsu, China, the retailer describes itself as an “international B2C fast fashion e-commerce platform”. Shein runs businesses in Consumer, e-Commerce, Marketplace, Textile, and Fashion industries. These businesses are in more than 220 countries and regions around the world. The company is continuously expanding and now ships clothing to about 150 countries from global warehouses, including the US, western countries, and the Middle East.
Citing the sources, Bloomberg revealed that Shein is in talks with potential investors to generate $1 billion in fundraising. Meanwhile, its management is still working on the plan, which may change over time, considering the high value of the round. If the planned fundraising pulls through, Shein will become the third-most valuable startup in the world. The e-commerce firm will follow the list, after ByteDance Ltd. and SpaceX- the top two.
Before Shein resorted to the fundraising plans, there were rumors that the firm was pursuing an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Per reports, Shein was considering listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In the event that the IPO is successful, it would be the first major equity deal by a Chinese company in the US. However, Russia’s attacks on Ukraine are taking a toll on Shein’s IPO intentions. Hence, there is a hold on the public offering, especially with the sharp market volatility resulting from the attacks. The founder of Shein has also been trying to secure citizenship to bypass proposed stringent offshore IPO rules in China. Contrary to the IPO rumors, Shein said in a press release that it had no plans of going public in the short term.
Shein has become a successful enterprise with the active use of over 25 technologies for its website. With incredibly low prices, Shein has become one of the largest online fashion sites since its launch in 2008.
Can Shein Make $100B In its Series F Fundraising?
According to Crunchbase, Shein has secured $553.4 million in over five fundraising rounds. Its last round was on August 1st, from a Series E round, although the value is not disclosed. The possibility of Shein making the current fund target is unknown as there have been no comments from any of its stakeholders.
Notwithstanding, the fast fashion e-commerce is backed by IDG Capital, Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital China, and a few others. These investors were participants in the previous funding rounds and will likely do more, considering the startup’s value to their businesses.
Notably, Shein’s rise in patronage was due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It took Amazon’s position as the most downloaded shopping app in the world in December. It racked up an estimated $15 billion in revenue in 2021 and an estimated $10 billion in revenue in 2020. Shein has operations in Guangzhou, Los Angeles, and Singapore. It offers more than 600,000 items to customers in over 150 countries.