Leading omnichannel fashion company Pomelo has secured US$52 million in funding, making it the first Thai startup to raise a Series C funding round.
Investors include Central Group, Provident Growth Fund, InterVest Star SEA Growth Fund, Andre Hoffman, Toivo Annus, Lombard Private Equity, Ambient Sound Investments OU and The Luxembourg Company Deverel.
After raising US$19 million in its Series B round in November 2017, Pomelo has expanded into Hong Kong and Malaysia, grown gross merchandise volume seven-fold, launched eight physical stores in Thailand and opened a flagship store in the heart of Orchard Road. The brand has expanded its product offering further, launching categories like Purpose, an eco-friendly collection, Beet cosmetics and Pomelo Man, its menswear label.
“This is a disruptive time for omnichannel in Asia,” said Provident Growth Fund founding partner Michael Aw. “Pomelo is in a unique position because of its vertically integrated model and innovative technical abilities. We are confident they will lead the way in fashion across Southeast Asia and beyond.”
Using direct-to-consumer technology, Pomelo has been involved in omnichannel fashion since its launch in 2013.About 30 per cent of orders are delivered through its Pomelo Pick-up channel, which allows customers to try before they buy.
“Pomelo is much more than an online fashion brand,” said Pomelo CEO David Jou. “As a fashion-tech company, we are developing a proprietary catalogue of innovative technologies that will allow us to unlock significant hidden value that exists in the branded fashion business today. Everywhere we look, we see opportunities for innovation to reinvent how things are done to create better products, better serve customers, and maximise omnichannel productivity and efficiency.
“Fashion is as relevant today as ever and we are excited to chart a unique path forward in an effort to reinvent what it means to be a fashion brand.”
Co-founder Casey Liang said technology has always been a big focus for the company, which will be looking at big data and AI for pricing and design, as well as e-commerce personalisation in the future.
“We want to integrate the omnichannel experience even deeper by connecting the Pomelo universe with the customer through a proprietary tech stack. Additionally, we would like to further expand our supply chain automation platform, Henry.”
