For Dafiti, the investment bell has been ringing like a cash register lately. The Zappos-like clone for Brazil and Latin America landed $45 million as recently as August. This week, the company upped the ante with a new $65 million round, bringing its total capital to a staggering $180 million. That’s the fourth round the company has raised in the last 23 months. In the last two years, the company has grown from 10 to 1,200 employees.
New York-based Quadrant Capital Advisors committed $32 million to lead the round, with AB Kinnevik, Summit Partners and a number of other unnamed investors also participating.
“We have been impressed with the success Dafiti has achieved in less than two years, driven by its commitment to operational excellence and customer satisfaction,” said Alejandro Santo Domingo, Managing Director of Quadrant Capital Advisors. “For these reasons and others, we believe the company is well-poised to go from strength to strength, not just in Brazil, but throughout Latin America.”
J.P. Morgan and Quandrant are also backers of another Zappos clone in Zarlando, backed by the Samwer Brothers. In fact, both Zappos and Dafiti launched as ventures of the Samwer Brothers Rocket Internet. The company was launched in 2011 by Malte Horeyseck, Malte Huffmann, Thibaud Lecuyer and Philipp Povel, powered by an initial $50 million investment from Rocket Internet. It’s a strategy that’s paid off, and this investment is just another chess piece move in the game.
The company will use the new funding to bolster existing operations as well as expand its portfolio of products. It currently serves five Latin American countries that include Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. It features more than 80,000 products of apparel, shoes, accessories, beauty and home decor from over 700 Brazilian and international brands.
“Led by Brazil, Latin America is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. Brazil’s retail market alone is estimated to be worth about $230 billion, driven mostly by domestic demand – and by the end of 2012, the country expects to have 43 million* online consumers,” said Dafiti co-founder Philipp Povel. “As Brazil’s leading fashion online retailer, with strong operations in Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Argentina, Dafiti is uniquely poised to take advantage of this growing market.”