Rocket Internet’s Dafiti Receives $70 Million From Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

Rocket Internet’s Latin America-based online fashion e-commerce store Dafiti Group said it has received $70 million from the Toronto-based Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’), its largest funding deal ever.
Dafiti recently received $10 million from Mexico’s León Group and also attracted  $255 million in investor funding from the likes of JP Morgan and Quadrant Capital Advisors, among others.

“This funding endorses the investors’ trust in the potential of Brazilian fashion online retail and, consequently, in Dafiti as the leader of this segment in Latin America with our operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico” said Dafiti co-founder Philipp Povel. “We will use this money to strengthen our customer service and our product assortment. All in all, this impressive funding helps us to bring Dafiti to the next level and fulfill on our strategic objective to change the way people in Latin America buy fashion, lifestyle and sports products.”

Brazil’s online retail is continually growing, especially the ‘apparel’ category, which has just reached for the first time the leadership of Brazil’s e-commerce categories. According to e-bit, the specialized consultancy, Brazil’s e-commerce is expected to grow 25% in 2013, as it added 10 million new e-consumers in 2012.

Is Africa ready to receive such investments? What African online store in Africa is changing the way we buy fashion, lifestyle and sports products?