Thai fashion retailer Pomelo raises US$19 million Series B funding co-led by JD.com, Provident Capital

Online fashion retailer Pomelo has raised additional capital to close its Series B at US$19 million, marking the largest Series B round raised by a Thai company.

This investment comes a year after Pomelo’s US$11 million Series A and brings the total funding to US$32 million. Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com and Provident Capital Partners co-led the funding round, which also saw participation from Lombard Investments.

With this, China’s largest online retailer JD.com has stated its ambition to make Thailand the hub for mainland Southeast Asia. The online retailer has earlier disclosed a US$500 million joint venture with Thailand’s Central Group which focus on e-commerce and financial technology.

Pomelo said the capital will be used to bring up the startup’s competitive edge against e-commerce big names like Alibaba for the coveted online shopping market in Southeast Asia.

E-commerce in Southeast Asia has been growing strongly. The region has a population of more than 600 million people and a growing middle class. Macquarie Research estimates that the online retailing in the region to reach US$65 billion by 2020.

To get a piece of the pie, Pomelo is looking to cement its position as the leading online fast fashion brand in Southeast Asia and accelerate global growth.

“We’re extremely pleased with this round to be in partnership with such prominent players from the investment company,” said David Jou, the CEO of Pomelo. “We look forward to continuing on the mission of building the first global fast fashion brand out of Southeast Asia.”

Under these terms of agreement, half of the investments were to come from Central Group, with the remainder coming from JD.com, JD Finance, and Provident Capital, which is also JD.com’s strategic partner for its Indonesian e-commerce business.

Pomelo’s other investors include Jungle Ventures, 500 Startups, Fenox Ventures, Queensbridge Ventures, and Skype’s Co-founder Tovio Annus。

Founded in 2014, Pomelo is a fashion platform that focuses on delivering on-trend fashion quickly and at affordable prices.