Club Factory raises $100 million, plans India expansion

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Oct 14, 2019

Chinese e-commerce firm Club Factory has raised $100 million (Rs 710 crore) in its latest funding round led by Qiming Venture Capital.
 

Investors like Bertelsmann, IDG Capital, and some Fortune 500 companies from the USA and Asia also participated in the funding round.
 
Club Factory is betting big on the Indian market for growth and was recently named as the third most popular e-commerce platform in India behind Amazon and Flipkart by data analytics platform App Annie.

The company will be utilising the latest funds to expand its presence in the country by onboarding more sellers to widen its product range and scale up its technology capabilities.
 
"India has the world's second-largest population with the purchasing power parity (PPP) ranking third worldwide. A huge market like this undoubtedly has diversified market demand, but many players pursue a narrow range of products through a closed ecosystem,” Vincent Lou, founder and chief executive officer of Club Factory said in a statement.
 
“Indian customers also need another kind of e-commerce platform – a more open one – which provides more options to customers and more vitality to the e-commerce field. This is why Club Factory has been able to rapidly grow in India," Lou added.
 
Club Factory started operations in India in 2016 and aims to on-board over 10,000 sellers this year.