Shein's Valuation in Downward Spiral Previous to IPO

Chinese fast fashion maker Shein's final pricing for its IPO Tuesday valued the company at $26.5 billion. This is approximately in the middle of the range previously given for the initial public offering that is going ahead on the Hong Kong stock market.

The valuation is, however, a far cry from the value attached to the company in previous private funding rounds. Shein went through Series D funding in 2022 and 2023, achieving a valuation of $98.2 billion in the main round in April of 2022. Just over a year later, in the D+ round, this was already down to $64 billion as the pandemic boom ebbed, growth slowed and competition among Chinese cross-border sellers became more fierce.

In 2024 and 2025, Bloomberg reported that Shein's private investors were reselling stock at prices suggesting a valuation between $45 and $55 billion as the company's value deteriorated further over the course of a U.S. IPO that faltered over forced labor concerns and scrutiny applied to the company's use of de-minimis shipping rules in the United States and the European Union. Ahead of a planned London IPO (which also did not go ahead), investors allegedly urged a valuation as low as $30 billion.

The Trump administration ending de minimis in the U.S. in 2025 and the European Union following suit in 2026 put a further dent in Shein's and its competitors outlook. Slowing revenues and profits were also part of the IPO filing which has brought an investors' darling back down to Earth. As the IPO pricing is now much lower than what investors paid in D funding rounds, Shein owes $3.5 billion in protections to these backers due to arrangements that were called more than generous. Shein's new stock already slipped an additional 10 percent in gray-market trading Monday before officially debuting tomorrow.