Singapore-based Chinese ecommerce fashion retailer SHEIN is reportedly planning to raise up to $2 billion in a funding round in March. In addition, the company is said to be planning to list on the US stock exchange in the second half of the fiscal year.
According to reports, the upcoming Shiite funding round will be led by UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. Other notable participants include Tiger Global Management, General Atlantic (GA) and Sequoia Capital China, the latter two of which are already investors in the online retailer.
However, neither SHEIN nor the investor groups have released an official statement confirming the funding or the individual amount each private equity firm plans to contribute. Chinese online fashion retailer SHEIN is set to raise about $2 billion in new funding this month and plans to seek a U.S. listing in the second half of this year, three people familiar with the plans told Reuters.
Earlier this year, The Information reported that SHEIN was in initial discussions with US tech giants Amazon and Google about an investment.
IPO in the United States
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, SHEIN has become one of the largest online fashion retailers in the world, reportedly generating $10 billion in revenue during the pandemic. The company is now looking to expand its online and offline presence in North America and plans to launch on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). If successful, this initial public offering (IPO) would be one of the largest ever by a Chinese company on a US stock exchange.
According to sources familiar with the matter, SHEIN has lowered its valuation for its next fundraising round to $64 billion, a 33% drop from the funding it raised a year ago. The reason for this reduction is not yet known.
Chinese companies have had a challenging time in the US stock markets and their IPOs over the past 12 to 16 months, largely due to global economic uncertainty, ongoing trade tensions and geopolitical tensions between China and the United States.
If SHEIN’s IPO is successful, its performance will be closely scrutinized by analysts as it provides insight into the market’s outlook for Chinese companies.
