Asian fashion retailer Zalora raises $112M — doubling its funding in just 6 months

Zalora has secured $112 million in funding, which represents the largest single investment ever made in a Southeast Asian online fashion retailer.

It broke its own funding record, as Zalora closed $100 million in financing earlier this year. Raising $212 million in about six months is quite an accomplishment and speaks to the huge opportunities that the Southeast Asian market represents as Internet and mobile penetration increases.

Zalora is Rocket Internet’s Southeast Asian Zappos clone. The company sells more than 130,000 fashion and beauty products from 500 international brands. It is active in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Brunei and will use this funding to cement its foothold in Southeast Asia and Australia.

Rocket Internet is a Berlin-based incubator notorious for launching “fast follow” or clone companies. It takes proven business models, such as Zappos and Amazon, and launches them in emerging markets.

Rocket has started more than 100 companies across five continents, and its portfolio has collectively attracted over $900 million in financing in the past year alone. Hefty funding rounds are part of Rocket’s business strategy — it throws millions upon millions of dollars at these companies until they dominate entire regions.

Rocket Internet itself raised a staggering $500 million in July 2013 to keep on launching and fueling its copycats around the world.

Zalora will use this $112 million to continue adding new brands to its inventory, expand into new geographic regions, and scale to meet demand. In May, the year-old startup already claimed to have “annualized double-digit million USD revenues.”

Like Zappos, it offers a flexible returns policy, free delivery over a certain spend, and quick deliveries.

The Zalora Group also includes The Iconic, an Australian e-commerce site that raised $25.8 million in July 2013. Access Industries led this round.