TheAsianparent, a Singapore-based online parenting community, is in talks with a group of VCs led by China’s Fosun for a new round of financing , people familiar with the matter told KrASIA.
Founded almost a decade ago in 2009 to ride with a burgeoning trend of Asian mums going digital, theAsianparent positions itself as a digital channel to provide marketers a more targeted and effective way to reach out to Asia’s mum audience. The company claims more than 12 million Asian women monthly users across Asia as of last May.
It generates revenue from helping brand clients tap into Asian mums through avenues like customised online advertising, KOL marketing, and market research among others.
The company raised its latest financing last May, in a US$6.7 million financing round led by Global Grand Leisure, with participation from Mountain Pine Capital in addition to existing investors, including Vertex Ventures.
In addition, it also raised a separate venture debt financing from DBS Bank at that time and brought its total financing to more than $11 million by then.
In March 2015, the parenting tips site raised a USD multi-million investment from Vertex Venture.
As of now, the firm operates in 11 countries/regions spanning across Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Vietnam, and so on. Besides, its official website shows that it has a presence in Africa’s Nigeria.
Southeast Asia’s baby care market looks rosy. Accoridng to data compiled by Euromonitor, a consultancy, Indonesia and Thailand’s baby products sales are expected to reach 280 million USD and 141 million USD by 2020, respectively.
China’s Fosun is a multinational conglomerate engages in areas from pharmaceutical to investments. The company also invested in China’s BabyTree, the largest online parenting community in China which got listed in Hong Kong last year-end.
(Update: Jan 28, added Southeast Asia baby care market in the penultimate paragraph.)
Editor: Ben Jiang