Chinese parenting site Lamabang raises $100m
China online retailer Vipshop has led a $100 million Series C round of funding for Lamabang, an online social networking platform that focuses on mothers.
Existing investors Matrix Partners China, Greenwoods Asset Management and Morningside Technologies also participated, the company told local media.
Operated under Shenzhen Xinwang Zhichuang Technology, the platform was launched in May 2012. It was originally a web portal, known as Lmbang, with articles and online forums for young mothers to share parenting tips, and fashion and shopping information. It then broadened its coverage to target women at four stages of parenthood: pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, childbirth and parenting.
Last July, Greenwoods led a $20 million Series B round for the company, with participation from Morningside, Vipshops, Matrix Partners and China Renaissance K2 Ventures.
In September, the company launched a new platform - Lamall - to sell products for babies and mothers at discounted prices, such as imported baby formula and diapers. The online shopping site reported a monthly turnover of over RMB50 million ($8 billion).
The new funding will be used to improve the ecosystem around female social community and online shopping, including products innovation and marketing.
Maternity and childcare products represent a popular e-commerce vertical in China. Two months ago, Capital Today and New Horizon Capital led a $100 million Series C round for Beibei.com, an online discount retail platform for maternity and baby products. In December, H Capital led a Series C round for Beijing Huawang Online Commerce, operator of childcare-focused e-commerce platform Miyabaobei.com.
VC-backed Vipshop went public in the US in March 2012, raising $181 million. Both DCM and Sequoia Capital made partial exits via the IPO. Last year, the online retailer bought domestic cosmetics and fashion products site Lefeng.com for $132.5 million, with a view to diversifying the company's product offering.
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