Bangkok-based/Singapore-incorporated fashion eCommerce company Zilingo has closed an $8 million series A investment in a round led by Venturra Capital, Sequoia India and Susquehanna International Group.

Other participating investors were Beenext, Beenos, Digital Garage and Wavemaker Partners.

Zilingo, which will use the fresh funding mainly for expansion into Indonesia, last year raised $2 million from Beenext, Sequoia Capital and two angel investors, Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon of Freecharge.

As well as Indonesia, Zilingo will use the funding to deepen its footprint in Singapore and Thailand as well as attract more sellers to its online marketplace.

Zilingo was founded by former Sequoia India analyst Ankiti Bose and former Yahoo engineer Dhruv Kapoor after a trip to Bangkok sparked their interest in fashion in Southeast Asia. This eventually led to them building a marketplace for fashion sellers in Singapore and Thailand.

Bose says Bangkok’s markets, such as Chatuchak and Pratunam, are famous outside Thailand. “Despite being smartphone savvy, most of these sellers barely have any access to digital platforms besides Facebook and cannot effectively market themselves online,” she says. “This inspired us to think of creating a platform that would allow just that.

“That’s how it all began – we packed our bags and set up shop in Bangkok, and Zilingo today is one of the fastest-growing marketplaces in Southeast Asia.”

The company targets the long-tail of vendors. Sellers pay Zilingo a commission ranging from 10 to 20 per cent, setting their own product price and paying for their own logistics.

“It’s deeply entrenched in our team that topline growth isn’t success, that a team needs sustainability and a core understanding of both business and technology to win in the long run,” says Bose.