Shein opens a new round of financing to raise 2,000 million dollars

The Chinese company specializing low-cost fashion Shein opens a new round of financing to raise 2,000 million dollars. 

The objective will be to consolidate its entry into the stock market, scheduled for the second half of this year.

According to Reuters, the leading investors in the round include the UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, the private equity firm General Atlantic (GA), and the venture capital group Sequoia Capital China, which is already a shareholder of the company. 

For this fundraising, Shein reduced its valuation to $64 billion. This was a third less than in the funding round a year ago. Last month, the company had initial discussions with several investment banks to choose the lead underwriters for the U.S. IPO.

If the IPO is successful, it would be one of the largest globally and an opportunity to test U.S. investors' appetite for Chinese companies amid the current state of capital markets and geopolitical tensions. 

Shein has tried to go public before. In 2020 they were going to leap, but it was postponed due to the unpredictability of the markets amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China.

Shein takes Temu to the court 

Meanwhile, Shein has initiated legal proceedings to take marketplace Temu to court. According to Shein, its competitor uses influencers to discredit the company's prestige. To do so, they made false and misleading statements on social networks.

In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Chinese company also claimed that Temu tricked customers into downloading the Temu app by using fake social media accounts.

If Temu loses, it could be forced to reduce its use of social media influencers as a key marketing strategy. Shein wants to prevent Temu from using its name in its marketing activities and claims damages for sales that Shein can prove were produced through "misleading" or "unlawful" marketing activities.

Temu has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, but the court has not yet ruled on the case.

"I think as Temu gains popularity and expands its lawsuit there will be more and more lawsuits. Including intellectual property, but probably not just intellectual property. I'm sure there will be data issues as well," said Rui Ma, a China and U.S. technology analyst.

Shein produces clothes in China for sale online in the United States, Europe and Asia, offering dresses for $10 and T-shirts for $5. Shein, originally founded in China, relies on direct shipping from its extensive network of Chinese suppliers.