Fashion platform Zilingo has acquired the Sri Lankan SaaS startup nCinga Innovations for USD 15.5 million, the two companies announced on Tuesday.
The deal, in cash and stock, is expected to bolster Zilingo’s position in the global digital supply chain. Ncinga is a company founded in 2014, which provides a platform to facilitate real-time production monitoring on factory floors and data analytics instruments.
Zilingo will adopt nCinga’s Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software for its global network of 6,000 factories and 75,000 businesses, enabling access to previously untapped markets, said the firm. The acquisition will bring added features to Zilingo’s customers in the United States, Europe, and Australia, supporting brands to increase transparency over the supply chain and manufacturing processes.
The two companies said that Zilingo’s acquisition marks one of the largest tech exits in Sri Lanka in recent times.
Co-founder and CEO of Zilingo Ankiti Bose said that the acquisition came after both sides have been partnering for some time, with the goal to create “a transparent, sustainable, economically viable and socially responsible apparel supply chain.”
Zilingo plans to leverage its global manufacturing network to increase the distribution of nCinga’s software – specifically to core fashion manufacturing markets such as India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Turkey, among others.
Co-founded in 2015 by Bose and CTO Dhruv Kapoor, Zilingo is a fashion and lifestyle marketplace selling products directly to consumers, while it also helps businesses across the fashion value chain to be more efficient and scale faster.
The startup previously raised USD 226 million in its Series D round in February reaching a valuation of about USD 970 million, on its way to become the region’s next unicorn.
Investors that backed Zilingo in the latest round include the likes of Sequoia Capital and Temasek Holdings.