Pomelo raises US$52m for omnichannel expansion across Asia

Fashion retailer Pomelo has raised US$52 million for omnichannel expansion across Asia. The Series C funding round was led by Central Group, Provident Growth Fund, InterVest Star SEA Growth Fund, Andre Hoffman, Toivo Annus, Lombard Private Equity, Ambient Sound Investments OU and The Luxembourg Company Deverel.

With this round, Pomelo has total raised over US$83 million from investors globally, including JD, Start Today Ventures and Jungle Ventures, who participated in its former funding rounds. Two years ago, Pomelo raised US$19 million in a Series B round in 2017.

Currently, Pomelo has expanded to Hong Kong and Malaysia, launched eight physical stores in Thailand and opened a flagship store in the Singapore recently. The brand has also expanded its product offering launching categories such as eco-friendly collection Purpose, Beet cosmetics brand and menswear label Pomelo Man.

According to Casey Liang, co-founder of Pomelo, technology has been a big focus for the company and the team will be looking at big data and AI for pricing and design, as well as eCommerce personalisation. He said that Pomelo aims to integrate the omnichannel experience even deeper by connecting the Pomelo ecosystem with the customer through a proprietary tech stack. In addition, Liang also looks to further expand Pomelo's supply chain automation platform, Henry.

Meanwhile, David Jou, CEO of Pomelo said as a fashion-tech company, Pomelo is currently developing a proprietary catalogue of innovative technologies that will unlock hidden value that exists in the branded fashion business today.

"Everywhere we look we see opportunities for innovation to reinvent how things are done to create better products, better serve customers, and maximize omnichannel productivity and efficiency. Fashion is as relevant today as ever and we are excited to chart a unique path forward in an effort to reinvent what it means to be a fashion brand," he added.

“This is a disruptive time for omnichannel in Asia, Pomelo is in a unique position because of its vertically integrated model and innovative technical abilities. We are confident they will lead the way in fashion across Southeast Asia and beyond. We are excited to continue on this journey with them,” Michael Aw, founding partner at Provident Growth Fund said.

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Most recently, former Lazada Singapore CMO Jean Thomas joined Pomelo as its new chief marketing officer. Thomas has worked across a spectrum of marketing, B2C and eCommerce, and was elevated to the role of Lazada Singapore CMO in January this year, after the eCommerce company integrated RedMart products into its platform. He first joined RedMart in 2017, as the director of brand and acquisition marketing.