JollyChic, a Chinese-based e-commerce platform just raised funds in a series C round that was led by global venture firm Sequoia Capital, followed by an existing investor, Legend Capital.
The announcement was made by Legend Capital on WeChat where it stated that after the investment round, JollyChic has become a “unicorn” startup, as its valuation reached $1 billion.
JollyChic was founded back in 2012 in Hangzhou and has offices scattered around the world including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Silicon Valley, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, UAE, and Jordan. Its products have been sold to 34 countries, with the Middle East region being the main focus. The e-commerce platform has over 2,500 employees worldwide, and its gross merchandise value (GMV) has been growing over 300% on an annual basis for the past five years.
Chen Hao, Legend Capital Managing Director commented on the startup’s investment saying: “Investments in the emerging market is one of Legend Capital’s focused areas. Mediterranean countries with 400 million population speaking the same language, have become a prominent consumer market in the Internet era.”
JollyChic claims that it has over 35 million registered users on its platform that is it’s the top ranking e-commerce brand in the Middle-East. The startup has also acquired the Jordanian-based e-commerce platform MarkaVIP for an undisclosed sum in 2017.
Even though JollyChic seems to have a strong presence in the Middle East, but there are other e-commerce platforms that have been on the rise. One of them is Noon, an e-commerce platform that launched last year in the UAE, and has recently launched in Saudi Arabia. Noon is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), in addition to Dubai’s billionaire Mohammed Alabbar.
Another strong competitor is Souq.com which has been acquired by Amazon for over $650 million. This acquisition provided Souq.com with the early-mover advantage.
Lastly, Namshi is another online store that has been partially acquired by Emaar Malls after the German-based incubator Rocket Internet has sold 51% of its share to the company for $151 million.
JollyChic has indeed come a long way and succeeded in becoming a “unicorn”, but do you think the mentioned e-commerce platforms are soon going to catch up to it?
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