VCs back Series C for China mother-and-baby player

Financial details were not disclosed. Other investors include GSR Ventures, Core Capital, Lightspeed China Partners, GWC and Steamboat Ventures, an investment arm of Disney.

The capital will be used to expand the company’s service capacity by increasing the size of the team and adding to its existing network of expert content providers who have online reader followings. According to a statement, the company is currently expanding a user base of several million into China’s third-tier cities.

Founded in 2016, Mama+ provides an online and offline community for mothers seeking advice on parenting from a network of doctors, educators and other mothers contributing content via a platform known as Davdian. The service includes access to more than 8,000 books from some 100 publishers and a range of parenting products from more than 500 global brands. AVCJ understands that the business is currently growing at a rate of 4x per year.

“The social element distinguishes it from other commerce platforms in the sense that it’s not focused on traditional advertising and promotion,” said Joe Chang, a partner at Eight Roads. “This is a completely different model where the merchandise is highly curated and built by extracting feedback from mothers who have actually used the products and are now recommending it. The social platform introduces an element of trust, and that’s important in a sector like this, where you’re talking about products and services for children.”

Eight Roads, formerly known as Fidelity Growth Partners, targets consumer, healthcare, education and technology companies.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Technology
• Expansion
• Eight Roads
• TMT
• healthcare
• China