VC-backed China parenting site Babytree raises $300m

Jumei invested $250 million in the round, comprising a $120 million convertible loan and $130 million in revolving credit. The rest was contributed by undisclosed domestic investors.

Founded in 2007, Babytree operates website BabyTree.com, and two mobile apps - BabyTree Pregnancy and BabyTree Footprints, covering over 80% of pregnancy-stage parents and parents of 0-6 year-old kids. It provides an online forum and e-commerce platform for parents to discuss and shop for childcare products. Daily active users surpass 10 million.

"Leveraging the enormous user base of BabyTree and Jumei's supply chain and logistics expertise in cross border ecommerce, we are confident to become the dominant female ecommerce platform in China. We see significant cross-selling potentials across all Jumei product categories," Leo Chen, founder and CEO of Jumei, said in a filing.

The new funding will be used to develop BabyTree's e-commerce business.

Earlier this year, TAL Education, a China-based after-schooling tutoring services provider, acquired a minority stake in BabyTree for RMB150 million ($25 million). The company previously secured previous investments from Matrix Partners, Susquehanna Growth Equity and China Broadband Capital Partners.

Jumei listed in the US last year, having raised capital from Sequoia Capital, K2 Partners - a private equity firm co-founded by Keyi Chen and China Renaissance Partners in 2010 - and General Atlantic. As of the end of February, Sequoia and K2 Partners held 16.1% and 7.5% in the firm, respectively. Xiaoping Xu, a notable Chinese angel investor and founder of ZhenFund, owned 7.7%.

The company posted a net income of $66 million in 2014, up from $25 million the previous year. Revenue jumped from $483 million in 2013 to $632.9 million in 2014.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Technology
• Expansion
• Venture
• China
• Consumer
• TMT
• Growth capital