Rumor: Lafaso Completed New Round

Local media broke today that Lafaso.com, a cosmetic etailer founded by celebrity anchor Li Jing has raised US$ tens of millions lately. Lafaso hasn’t commented on the rumor yet. The site was formally funded by Sequoia China at its founding in 2008.

Wang Licheng, its CEO said in an interview earlier this year that Lafaso is raising a new round in 2012. He also revealed that the online cosmetics outlet is expected to break even by year end.

Lafaso to date boasts 5 million registered users with a repeat purchase rate of 56%. It seems the celebrity anchor’s fame worked a charm here in attracting consumers.

Just like Dangdang and 360buy are all busy planning their own proprietary brands in an aim to go after higher gross margin, Lafaso is also planning to expand its proprietary brands from about 10 to over 20 in this year.

Lafaso pulled in about RMB 1 billion in last year while 40% came from its own brands. It targeted at 3 billion in sales this year.