Fashinza, a B2B marketplace/supply chain platform for fashion brands and retailers, has raised $100 million in a Series B funding round.
According to a Tuesday (May 17) news release, the funding followed a 12-month period in which the India-based Fashinza grew its business ten-fold, crossing $150 million in annualized cross-merchandise value run rate.
The company said it will use the funding to expand its presence around the global and invest in supply chain technology. It hopes to monetize FinTech offerings, expand into raw material procurement and create a sustainable supply chain by 2030 and Industry 4.0 solutions for small- to-medium-sized business manufacturers.
“The issues of the fashion industry supply chain have faced some unique challenges in the past few years that have also made the sector ripe for disruption,” Ashutosh Sharma, who heads Indian investments at Prosus Ventures, which led the round.
Learn more: Weaving Resilient B2B Payments Through Apparel’s International Supply Chains
PYMNTS spoke last year to Fashinza CEO Pawan Gupta about how the digitization of B2B trade can empower both brands and manufacturers in the sector to keep up with customer demands without causing harmful B2B payment disruptions.
Gupta said that apparel supply chains must evolve along with customer demands, such as American buyers’ need for sustainability and ethical manufacturing practices. But when U.S. brands rely heavily on manufacturers overseas, getting visibility into business practices remains a challenge.
“The fact that 95% of production is outsourced overseas makes it extremely difficult for U.S. brands to control where and in what conditions their goods are produced,” he said. “Hence, a lot of decisions by U.S. brands are based on the trust they place in their manufacturing partners and the visibility they can get from the factory floor.”