Temasek-Backed Startup Zilingo Aims To Raise Up To $200 Million

Zilingo, a fashion technology startup backed by Singaporean state-owned investor Temasek Holdings, is seeking to raise between $150 and $200 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The current funding round, which was initially reported by Bloomberg News and subsequently confirmed by Forbes, is said to be ongoing, so the financial details still have yet to be finalized. Zilingo is working closely with Goldman Sachs and has reached out to selected investors to gauge their level of interest.

The Singapore-based platform for fashion merchants was cofounded in 2015 by CEO Ankiti Bose alongside Dhruv Kapoor, Zilingo’s chief technology and chief product officer. The company evolved over the years from a platform for businesses to sell products to consumers in Southeast Asia to a B2B marketplace that connects wholesale buyers with sellers around the world.

The pair were featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2019 on the heels of their success in a prior funding round that raised $226 million from the likes of Sequoia Capital, Temasek, and Burda Principal, placing the company’s valuation at $970 million. 

In June 2019, Zilingo launched operations in the United States with offices in New York and Los Angeles, followed by an investment of $100 million across the U.S. to “digitally transform the fashion supply chain,” according to a company press release. 

“The fashion industry is exploitative, wasteful and, frankly, completely broken,” said Bose when unveiling the change. “We’re a technology company at heart, and firmly believe in the power of technology to improve business and the world.”

“Zilingo levels the playing field in fashion so that businesses—no matter how big or small—can have access to a fair, transparent, affordable, fast supply chain,” she added. 

Zilingo says its platform hosts more than 50,000 companies and achieves more than $1 billion in sales volume annually. In 2021, Bose told Bloomberg TV that the startup was considering an IPO to raise capital, although the company wasn’t able to give a timeframe for when the listing might take place.

If successful, Zilingo’s latest fundraising round would place it among a distinguished group of Singaporean startups that gained unicorn status over the past year. They include AI human resources company Darwinbox, which raised $72 million in Series D financing in January, and online automotive marketplace Carro, which raised a $360 million funding round led by SoftBank last June.