FashionValet, a Malaysian online shopping portal has announced a multimillion-dollar investment led by Elixir Capital, a global private equity firm based in Silicon Valley, California.
The value of the investment was undisclosed, but by investing, Elixir Capital will assist FashionValet in accelerating the expansion of its online reach through avenues such as mobile e-commerce, big data, and original customer-centric content.
FashionValet said the goal with this capital injection is to better serve its customers and suppliers alike, as well as improve customer experience and product offering.
The online retail startup said in a statement that this would allow the brand to scale its operations to other Asian cities.
“The investment from Elixir Capital marks a significant step for FashionValet as we continue to really develop the brand beyond Malaysia and pave the way for retail e-commerce locally,” said FashionValet co founder and chief executive officer Fadzarudin Anuar.
“We’ve seen substantial e-commerce growth already, yet there’s room for much more in Malaysia, where there’s less than one per cent penetration of sales online, as compared to 10 per cent in China, the United States and Western Europe,” he added.
In 2012, public-listed e-government services provider MyEG Services Bhd invested MYR1 million ($326,580 then) into FashionValet for a 30 per cent stake in the company.
FashionValet said it tripled revenue in 2014, but the actual numbers were not revealed.
“We were approached to be funded by several other companies, but Elixir Capital shared the same vision we had, to grow FashionValet into a multimillion-dollar company that champions local designers in Asia – which is what really convinced us to work with them,” said FashionValet cofounder and chief creative officer Vivy Yusof.
FashionValet, run by the husband and wife team, offers a wide selection of ready-to-wear garments designed by Asian designers. Its customer base is throughout Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore.
Elixir Capital managing director Arshad Ahmed added that FashionValet now forms the Southeast Asian centrepiece for Elixir’s multi-market investment platform in digital commerce, with accelerated enterprise growth and regional expansion serving as our investment thesis.
“FashionValet has the makings potentially of a homegrown Malaysian IPO (initial public offering) in retail e-commerce,” he added.
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