E-commerce firm Alibaba is leading a $10m series A round set to be closed by online fashion retailer Grana as part of three investments it made in Hong Kong startups last week.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund was joined in the round by venture capital firms and existing backers Golden Gate Ventures and MindWorks Ventures.
Grana, which was launched in late 2014, designs its fashion products in-house and sells them through its own platform, shipping products to 12 countries.
The startup will use the series A capital to double its employees to 100 by the end of 2016 as it prepares to expand its product range, move into a larger centralised warehouse in Hong Kong and establish a New York-based team to help it expand in the US, its largest international market.
The round follows $6m of seed funding raised from fashion group Bluebell Group, Golden Gate Ventures, MindWorks Ventures and assorted angel investors between October 2014 and February 2016. It plans to close the series A round by the end of this month.
Cindy Chow, executive director of Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, said: “Grana has proved itself as an international e-commerce brand that uses a data driven approach to optimise its business offering and create an excellent customer experience.
“They have a creative and energetic business culture which really resonates across their omni-channel and is indicative through their rapid growth. It is a very promising startup and we are looking forward to building a long term partnership.”
Alibaba initially announced the fund’s involvement last week, along with investments in healthy on-demand meal delivery service Nosh and online home cooking content publisher DayDayCook.
– Photo courtesy of Grana