The latest funding round for the Chinese fast fashion behemoth, now based in Singapore, values the company at $66 billion, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. That’s well below the $100 billion valuation Shein received a year earlier.
Investors leading the round are Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic and Mubadala, the sovereign-wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates.
Known for its ultra-low prices and thousands of new styles everyday, Shein saw its sales slowing in the summer and fall of 2022 after years of explosive growth, according to BoF analysis of data from Earnest Analytics.
In 2023, however, Shein expects revenue to grow by 40 percent, according to sources cited in the Wall Street Journal report. Last year, Shein posted $23 billion in sales, the people said.
Shein currently faces regulatory scrutiny from American lawmakers amid geopolitical tensions with China. A lower valuation would give room for the company to recover market value in the case of an IPO, existing investors told the Journal.
Congress sent a letter to Shein, among other international retailers, earlier this month posing the question of whether their supply chains comply with US legislation that bans cotton sourced from China’s Xinjiang region.
Shein also faces heightened competition from rival Temu, a shopping app made by Chinese online marketplace Pinduoduo that touts just as affordable prices and deep assortment of products.
In recent months, Shein has opened new warehouses and manufacturing facilities in the US and Europe.
“We’re very excited about the direction of the business,” said Peter Day, Shein’s global head of strategic communications, told BoF earlier this year. “We see ourselves as being well-positioned in the macroeconomic environment.”
Learn more:
Shein’s Years of Explosive Growth Are Over. What’s Next?
The fast-fashion retailer saw sales decline in the back half of 2022, as the novelty of its endless selection of trendy, ultra-cheap clothes wears off.
