urn in evolution for us, moving from a female fashion brand to a female ecosystem,” Love, Bonito CEO Dione Song told media at a roundtable on Wednesday.  The funding round was led by global investment firm Primavera Capital Group, whose previous investments include Alibaba, ByteDance, Yum China and Mead Johnson China,  Primavera said Love, Bonito has proven itself to be a “one-of-a-kind, purpose-driven brand for women across all life-stages”.  “Consumers are drawn by what the brand stands for and its mission to empower women around the world,” the investment firm said. International expansion Since launching in 2010, Love, Bonito has expanded into 10 markets across Asia, Australia and the US. During that time, it has achieved growth of over 120 per cent year-on-year in international markets, and overall growth of 208 per cent in online sales. With its latest funding round complete, Love, Bonito will invest further in markets such as Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia to increase its omnichannel presence and market share, and will focus on accelerating expansion in key markets Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines and the US, which are collectively experiencing triple digit growth year-on-year.  “We’ve grown our international business; [with] 50 per cent of our e-commerce [sales] today coming out of our non-Singapore markets,” Song said. “We believe that the future of retail is omnichannel; offline is not going to go away. There has to be an experiential element to consumers and this is how we will be reaching out to them and really deepening connections.”   Its expansion plan includes the addition of new business verticals, strengthening local collaborations and improving customer experience.  In the Philippines, the brand intends to deepen local partnerships, explore pop-up opportunities and tap into the country’s strong mall culture.  “We’ve noticed a lot of organic traction over the last couple of years, with customers coming back to our international website, and also a lot more influencers talking about Love, Bonito as a brand. We’ve started leveraging this as well and doing a bit more seeding with the local influencer community,” Song said.  In East Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, Song says the brand has gained in popularity through word of mouth. Love, Bonito launched a Hong Kong website in August off the back of strong demand from the region through its international site, but had held off on offline expansion due to unrest on ground. The company sees high potential for the brand within Asian diaspora communities, particularly in the US where online revenue growth exceeded 1,200 per cent year-on-year as of September 2021. “We are seeing extremely good traction with the Asian diaspora market, especially in key states like California and New York,” Song said.  Building a female ecosystem As part of its mission to become even more relevant to the modern Asian woman across all life stages, Love, Bonito plans to venture into new categories including wellness, and launch a content platform called LiBrary. It intends to become a “well-rounded female ecosystem” that meets the needs of women within Asian countries and also within Asian diaspora communities globally.  The brand is tapping into the power of artificial intelligence through data and machine learning to better understand the needs of its customer base.  “We have over 11 years of rich customer data that we’re now mining [to get a] deep understanding of the Asian female consumer,” Song said.  “Our vision with data and personalisation, at the end of the day, is to create a seamless experience for the Love, Bonito woman; [make] recommendations … depending on life stage, in the most preemptive and proactive manner as we expand as well into the new verticals and new categories.”  Song also flagged the potential introduction of a subscription program to cater to “the busy working woman and those who truly appreciate convenience”.