E-commerce holding vehicle Global Fashion Group (GFG) has agreed to invest more than $20m in India-based online fashion retailer Jabong, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday.
Jabong sells footwear, apparel, jewellery and accessories for men, women and children. Although the platform’s traffic and sales have remained relatively high, it has continued to make losses and GFG’s funding would be used to keep it running over the next year.
The company was founded in 2012 by GFG, which was formed by e-commerce company Rocket Internet and investment firm Kinnevik. UK government-owned finance institution CDC Group invested $27.5m in the company in early 2014.
GFG told ET in an email: “GFG has raised over $1.5bn in capital in its history and its board remains unanimously committed to all regions it operates in, including India.
“Jabong has made a number of recent senior management hires and has also recently 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.”
Reports in September 2015 suggested online payment platform Paytm or conglomerate Aditya Birla were assessing the possible acquisition of Jabong for between $500m and $800m, months after e-commerce firm Amazon turned down the option of a $1.2m acquisition.