Fashion e-commerce firm Jabong, has received funding worth Rs 2 crore (about $20 million) from Global Fashion Group. The funding will help the loss-making company survive another year.
Global Fashion Group or GFG was established by Rocket Internet and Swedish Investment AB Kinnevik in 2011. GFG operates e-commerce ventures such as Dafiti in Latin America, Lamoda in Russia, Namshi in the Middle East, Zalora in Southeast Asia and Jabong in India, The Economic Times reports.
Oliver Samwer, CEO of Rocket Internet and deputy chairman at GFG, was reportedly not in favour of continuing its India operations. However, Kinnevik insisted on backing the company and the board finally agreed to infuse the amount into Jabong.
"The board has agreed to put more than $20 million in Jabong," a source was quoted as saying by the publication.
In an e-mail statement to ET, the company said Jabong received regular funding similar to other MNCs. The statement also said there were no "pre-agreed funding" commitments.
"GFG has raised over $1 billion in capital in its history and its board remains unanimously committed to all regions it operates, including India. Jabong has made a number of recent senior management hires and has also witnessed record operating performance. These facts which are supported by public filings on our current investment rate, are clearly evident of GFG's commitment to growing Jabong," the statement read, according to the daily.
In India's online fashion retailing space, Jabong competes with Myntra (owned by Flipkart), Amazon and Snapdeal.
Last week, the e-commerce firm hired Muralikrishnan B, former eBay India country manager, as Jabong's COO. In December 2015, Sanjeev Mohanty took over as CEO of the firm. The company has hired four people for its top management positions in the last three months, Press Trust of India had reported on Feb.25.
[1 lakh = 100,000 | 1 crore = 10 million | 100 crore = 1 billion]
