BEIJING & MENLO PARK, Calif.-(BUSINESS WIRE)- Vipshop, the leading online ‘flash sales’ retailer in China, today announced that it has closed a $20 million round of funding from global VC firms DCM and Sequoia Capital. Vipshop focuses on online ’flash sales’, offering premier brand name clothing, accessories, cosmetics and designer household items at discounted prices in a limited time sales format. With over 1.5 million members across China, Vipshop sells popular foreign and domestic brands directly to the fast growing middle-class in China. This new round of funding will be used towards expanding corporate and marketing initiatives and investing in operation infrastructure.

Vipshop currently works with over 400 retail brands and distributors including Adidas, Esprit, Nine West, Kappa, Ochirly, GEOX and Triumph. The company provides a unique opportunity for brand partners to reach China’s increasingly affluent middle-class and serve as a distribution channel for out of season stock, in which there typically is no shelf space in Chinese stores. Given China’s unique marketplace, there is additionally an important need for brands and distributors to work with credible online retail channels to reach their target audience. Vipshop is addressing this already, and Vipshop partners in return gain valuable insight into Chinese consumer behavior to help grow brand awareness and customer loyalty.

“Vipshop has established itself as a credible online retailer with some of the largest global brand distributors, and we are taking the Chinese ecommerce market in a new direction,” said Vipshop Co-founder and CEO, Arthur Hong. “With Vipshop, the growing Chinese middle-class can confidently purchase top of the line goods at a reasonable price, and retail brands are assured their products are sold through a safe and secure online channel. The funding from DCM and Sequoia, two of the industry’s leading investment firms, will provide us with the capital and global expertise to further accelerate our growth.”

“Vipshop is the largest online flash sales retailer in China. Its revenue, membership and brands are far ahead of its peers, and this is a strong validation of their business model,” said DCM General Partner, Hurst Lin. “For the 120 million middle class in China, who have a new appetite for chic Western brands at an affordable price point, Vipshop is a natural choice, especially for global brands looking to take advantage of this market opportunity in China.”

“Ecommerce in China is growing at an explosive rate and is catching up with more mature markets such as those in the U.S.,” said Sequoia Capital China Founding Managing Partner, Neil Shen. “Because of Vipshop’s market leadership in online flash-sales and experienced talent already residing in-house, we see a huge and exciting opportunity to build a great company.”