Singapore-based media platform theAsianparent has completed an “oversubscribed” Series C funding round with an 8-figure sum (USD) raised, led by Chinese family-focused conglomerate Fosun.
Other investors include China’s largest retailer JD.com, ATM Capital, Redbadge Pacific, along with returning investors Global Grand Leisure and WHG Holdings.
Last year, its parent company Tickled Media raised S$6.7 million, which was used to fuel expansion in Southeast Asia—particularly to the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam—and launch two new media brands.
Now this fresh round of funds will help theAsianparent continue driving expansion “into new markets in Asia and Africa”.
The firm plans to launch Africaparent.com “within the year”, as well as an online store that will carry a line of products safe for expecting mothers and babies.
Additionally, they will also use the funds to accelerate development on their recently launched mobile app.
She Built SEA’s Largest Platform For Mothers
theAsianparent has come a long way since founder and CEO Roshni Mahtani first started it as a parenting blog in 2009.
“Over the years we have grown from a parenting blog into a multinational company with offices in 12 countries,” said Roshni.
“Our move from a content platform to a social network wasn’t an easy one, but has significantly accelerated our business to serve as a leading source of information for parents around Asia and the world.”
When we covered their last funding in 2018, Tickled Media boasted a significant growth from 1 million users in 2013, to 12 million users at the time.
Today, their reach has climbed higher to 23.5 million active users per month, becoming “Southeast Asia’s largest community and content platform for mums”.
Its team has also strengthened to 180 employees across 12 markets—Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, India, Taiwan, Japan, and Nigeria.
Coming on board as an investor, Chairman of Fosun’s VC arm, Fosun RZ Capital, Wilson Jin is confident theAsianparent has “won the trust of young mothers in Southeast Asia”.
“In the past few years, theAsianparent has fully verified its business development and product evolution capabilities,” said Jin.
Still, Roshni’s motivation remains the same.
“As an Asian and a parent myself, my goal has always been to provide culturally relevant content for mums and parents,” she shared with Vulcan Post.
I also wanted to create a judgment-free, safe space for all parents and parents-to-be, and ultimately create a support system for them.
Checking Off New Boxes
Catching up with how they’ve performed in their previous goals, it looks like theAsianparent has successfully seized the new audiences they planned for.
Roshni said the platform has become “number 1 in the Philippines and Malaysia”.
While they’re in the top three among Vietnam’s mother and baby players, they also hope to clinch the top spot there “within the year”.
In terms of new media brands, they introduced HerStyleAsia.com which now amasses over a million monthly users, as well as a food, home and DIY portal Nonilo.com, crossing half a million monthly users.
Behind their rapid growth, Roshni explained that the company gains its revenue from “six main buckets”.
The first two are the more standard digital advertisements and branded content creation.
Beyond that, theAsianparent taps on other revenue streams: research via polls, surveys and focus groups; e-commerce activation; key opinion leader (KOL) and influencer marketing; and community events like baby fairs, workshops and exhibitions.
Through their app launched in September 2018, they’re also providing an extended array of services.
Like their web platform, this too started simpler, as “mostly a Q&A platform among parents”.
Its functions later grew more well-rounded with the additions of pregnancy checklists, nutrition guides including local ingredients, photo sharing, and baby milestone trackers.
Roshni said their product team will continue to work on new developments, and users can look forward to features like ovulation calculators and a portal that lets them consult “experts” on various topics in the future.
Featured Image Credit: theAsianparent