Shein fundraising round suggests $100bn value for fast-fashion giant

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 4, 2022

Fast-expanding Chinese fashion e-tailer Shein is looking to raise fresh funds and its reported $1 billion target would give it a market value of close to $100 billion.

That would be double the value placed on it as recently as early 2021.

The new valuation is according to Bloomberg, which referenced "people familiar with the matter" for the news.

It said the firm is talking to potential investors including General Atlantic, but the information is meant to remain private for now.

And it added that if it achieves its funding target, it will make the business the third most valuable start-up globally after TikTok owner ByteDance and SpaceX.

Shein has historically declined to share much information about its funding and hadn’t responded to Bloomberg’s requests for comment in this latest case.

The report also said that “deliberations are ongoing and details such as the size of the fundraising and valuation could still change”.

Shein is one of the fastest-expanding online fashion retailers globally and currently offers more than 0.6 million items to shoppers in 150+ countries.

The fundraising move comes after it earlier shelved its plans for an IPO in New York.

Shein was founded as far back as 2008 but in recent years has used its powerful data and slick supply chain to leapfrog other online retailers. Last year it jumped ahead of Amazon in terms of the number of app downloads in the US.