IFC invests 10 mln euro in online retailer Lamoda
MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) - Online retailer Lamoda has raised 10 million euro from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment division of the World Bank, Lamoda said in a statement.
"Internet companies are speeding up modernization of the retail supply chain in developing countries, which is helping to promote consumer spending - a key component of economic growth. Their investments in logistics, information technology and marketing are rapidly generating employment, especially for women and young people," Atul Mehta, IFC's Director of Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services, is quoted in the statement as saying.
Bigfoot GmbH, a company created by Rocket Internet, a European "incubator" for internet startups, and the current owner of Lamoda, requested the IFC financing.
A consortium of investors comprising Leonard Blavatnik's Access Industries, the U.S. firm Summit Partners, and Germany's Tengelmann Group invested $130 million in Lamoda in mid-2013. The investors received shares in Lamoda on a cash-for-equity basis, though the size of the shares package was not disclosed.
The internet retailer raised investment in 2012 from JP Morgan Asset Management, which also received a share of the company in return.
Aside from Lamoda, IFC has also invested in another Bigfoot GmbH project - the Latin American online retailer Dafiti. This project received 15 million euro.
Lamoda's online store was launched in 2011 with the support of Rocket Internet and is managed by the project's four founders: Niels Tonsen, Dominik Picker, Burkhard Binder and Florian Jansen.
Lamoda specializes in the online sale of clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, perfumes and home goods.
