Babytree expands in pursuit of global customers

Growing appetite for maternity and childcare is offering Babytree, a Chinese leading platform on natal care and parenting, opportunities to reach for global consumers.

Wang Huainan, founder and CEO of Babytree, said maternity and child-focused business has huge potential abroad, especially with the burgeoning "she-economy" and mobile social sector.

His words came just after the company announced late last week it has led a $8 million round of funding in Healofy, a leading India women-centric social network.

Other investors include BAce Capital, a fund by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial Services and existing investor Omidyar Network India.

Healofy, which mainly targets women aged between 21 and 35, is one of India's largest women-centric online communities. It offers women, especially mothers, a platform for topics ranging from pregnancy to parenting.

"Women are the primary purchasing decision-makers in most Indian households," said Healofy CEO Gaurav Aggarwal. "To help them become comfortable with online transactions, it is critical for the next set of e-commerce platforms to innovate and provide an online shopping experience similar to the offline world."

At the time of investment, Wang from Babytree pointed out this marks the company's first step outside of China, and the firm will continue to look for opportunities in overseas markets.

"Globalization has always been one of our main development strategies, and Babytree's vision is to become a global company addressing the needs of young families in international markets," Wang noted.

He added markets where the firm can leverage its expertise in fostering online maternity and child-focused communities will be major focus areas.

Babytree has also invested in two leading WeChat-based parenting platforms, BaMaYing and Momself.

The company claimed BaMaYing will complement and broaden its user reach, while Momself aims to build up a lifelong learning and support platform, with more focus on mothers instead of children.

The Hong Kong-listed company made its debut in November last year. Fosun International, a Shanghai-based private conglomerate, owns 20.86 percent of the company, while Chinese tech titan Alibaba owns 9.9 percent.

According to its fiscal report for 2018, the company gained 760.1 million yuan ($113 million) in revenue last year, up from 729.6 million in 2017.

The report showed its total monthly active users increased to 144.1 million, up from 139.0 million in 2017.

Notably advertising, e-commerce and content monetization were the biggest three money-making businesses.

Revenue from advertising business increased to 596.2 million yuan last year, a 60 percent increase year-on-year.

"Babytree is making significant progress, with our successful listing in Hong Kong and implementation of a series of initiatives to expand and enhance our products, generate new content and monetize traffic," Wang said.

Wang said he is excited by the opportunities to build stronger maternity and child-care communities, both in China and globally.

"Looking forward, we expect to create more value for users, partners and shareholders this year," he added.