Singapore, 7 November 2019 – theAsianparent, Southeast Asia’s largest platform for parents with a monthly network reach of nearly 30 million users, has announced that it has closed a seven-figure Series C2 funding from new strategic investors Mirae Asset  Financial Group (“Mirae Asset”) and NAVER Corporation (“NAVER Corp”) through their Mirae Asset-Naver New Growth Fund. This comes after theAsianparent secured an eight-figure Series C Funding in July 2019 led by Fosun International, followed by other investors such as JD.com, ATM Capital and Redbadge Pacific.

The additional funding will be utilised to further implement theAsianparent’s diversification strategy, which entails expanding its foray into the commerce business through manufacturing and creating its own direct to consumer line of maternity and baby products. theAsianparent will also be allocating more resources into improving its technology infrastructure to support its growing community through investments in advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence support, as well as expanding its technology team.

According to a new report by Grand View Research, the global baby products market size is expected to reach US$16.78 billion by 2025. This is due to an increased female working population becoming mothers, fuelling the demand for ready-to-use products for themselves and their babies. The Asia Pacific market, where theAsianparent has its strongest roots, is also expected to expand, owing to the increased awareness on the importance of “baby nutrition, hygiene, and safety” especially in developing regions in Asia. Constant innovation will also serve to further increase growth of the industry, which is what theAsianparent’s fresh funding will serve to tap on, providing safe and affordable care products for mums and babies. 

Jikwang Chung, Head of the New Growth Investment Division at Mirae Asset Capital who oversees international growth stage/venture capital investments said, “We are always on the lookout for forward-thinking, fast-growing companies to invest in, and that’s exactly what theAsianparent is. We’ve seen how they’ve grown from a start-up to a multinational company with almost 30 million users, and are happy to be a part of their journey.”

“We are honoured to have Mirae Asset and NAVER Corp’s support in theAsianparent’s growth journey. Expansion into commerce is a natural progression for theAsianparent. As a purpose-driven maternal health-tech company, access to safe and healthy products at an affordable price point is complementary to the content we provide to our thirty-million strong parenting community,” said Roshni Mahtani, Founder and Group CEO of theAsianparent.

Alongside its diversification strategy, theAsianparent will continue expanding its community reach into new markets with high fertility rates. Through its localised content and community platform, it aims to help more than 50 million parents raise happy and healthy children and families. With its recent senior management hires previously from Dentsu Aegis Network China and Rocket Internet, theAsianparent is working towards a US$100 million revenue milestone within the next few years.