Following a $45m investment from J.P. Morgan Asset Management as recently as August, Dafiti, a Brazilian/Latin American Zappos, has added a further $65m to its coffers, bringing the total raised in less than two years since launch to a whopping $180m. Today’s round is led by New York-based Quadrant Capital Advisors, which committed $32m, while AB Kinnevik, Summit Partners and a number of other unnamed investors also participated.
It’s notable that both J.P. Morgan and Quardrant are backers of another ‘Zappos clone’ in the form of the Samwer brothers’ Zalando. That’s unsurprising, since both Zalando and Dafiti started life as a Samwer brothers’ Rocket Internet venture. Rinse and repeat.
Dafiti says it will use the new capital to bolster its “logistical operations” and expand the company’s portfolio of brands and products across the five countries it operates in: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
Founded in January 2011 by Malte Horeyseck, Malte Huffmann, Thibaud Lecuyer and Philipp Povel, and initially funded by Rocket Internet to the tune of $50m, Dafiti offers more than 80,000 products in apparel, shoes, accessories, beauty and home decor, from 700 Brazilian and international brands.
It employs more than 1,200 people and operates websites dafiti.com.br, dafiti.com.ar, dafiti.com.cl, dafiti.com.co, and dafiti.com.mx.