Namshi Receives Investment from Summit Partners
On the heels of its $20 million investment round from J.P. Morgan and Blakeney
Management this past September, Dubai-based fashion retail site
Namshi is once again receiving an injection of cash, this time from
Summit Partners, a growth equity firm that has invested in several
Rocket Internet companies this year.
The amount of the cash-for-equity deal was not disclosed. While
Summit Partners has recently sprinkled €20 million (US $26 million)
each on Zando, a Zappos clone in South Africa,
and Lazada, an Amazon clone in Southeast Asia, last
October and December respectively, the amount invested in Namshi
was "not on the scale" of Namshi's previous $20 million round from
J.P. Morgan and Blakeney.
When luxury site PPR invested in Bigfoot I, the Rocket Internet
holding company that controls Namshi among others, co-founder Hosam
Arab noted that the investment could boost Namshi's ability to work
with iconic global fashion brands as it expands its lines of shoes
and accessories. With this new round of funding, however, not much
has changed at the Zappos clone; Namshi will continue to execute on
the plans it made in September.
"Right now we're continuing with what we're doing," says co-founder
Louis Lebbos. These to-dos include:
1) Namshi is adding more product variety, especially scaling up its
abaya and jalabiya lines.
2) It's still focusing on warehousing locally in Saudi Arabia, but
now is also piloting a new Last Mile Delivery plan, running a fleet
of "a few bikes and a couple of vans" to improve upon delivery
times in Dubai. "We'll test it and learn from it, and if we like
it, we'll scale up," says Lebbos.
3) Spending more on marketing, scaling up within their three
primary marketing categories: search engine ads, display ads, and
Facebook ads. Display ads are still essential in a market where
many are still hesitant to shop online, says Lebbos, but of course
it's optimal to cater primarily to users who are already on the
internet. A TV ad campaign will also continue.
None of these agendas are novel, but young startups can look to
these models to understand how bigger fish- who have the capital to
test extensively- are solving the region's basic e-commerce
issues.
And of course, being strategic can get you out of trouble, as the
third Namshi co-founder Muhammed Mekki discovered at our recent
MixnMentor panel in Dubai, where fellow
panelist Joi Ito expounded on the pitfalls of an MBA.