theAsianparent nabs fresh funding, eyes India and Sri Lanka

• New funds to fuel expansion into dad-focused resources too
• Survey shows Asian mothers influence 89% of all household purchases

 

ONLINE parenting portal theAsianparent has announced a multimillion-dollar investment led by Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd and angel investors Teruhide Sato, William Klippgen and Hellmut Schutte.
 
This brings the company’s the total funding raised to date to S$4.5 million (approximately US$3.3 million), with LionRock Capital and Tigris Capital amongst its previous investors, it said in a statement.
 
“Media has drastically evolved over the past decade. Content has become more ubiquitous – accessible in a variety of platforms and reaching audiences anytime, anywhere, when they need it,” said Chua Kee Lock, group president and chief executive officer of Vertex Venture Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

“theAsianparent represents the new breed of media outlets with a non-traditional business model that offers great value for marketers, while providing highly-relevant information for very important demographics such as parents.”
 
Founded in 2009, the portal claims a readership base of over six million mothers across the region, with a presence in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
 
It generates revenue from custom advertising and market research, and employs over 60 people across Asia. It claims to have grown in revenue throughout its five years of operation.
 
Chief executive officer and founder Roshni Mahtani said the new round of investments will help the company expand theAsianparent’s presence in other key markets such as India and Sri Lanka.
 
“As the parenting demographic continues to grow, we realise that each country across the region has its specific needs in terms of the availability of a centralised source of information on parenting,” she said.
 
It will operate in India under the IndusParent brand, with the site already live.
 
“For now our focus is on India and Sri Lanka, as with the other South-East Asian countries we are operating in. We launched in the Philippines last year, and previously in Indonesia as well.
 
“Parents in each country in Asia have varying needs and therefore, we are always keen on new markets,” Roshni said.
 
Aside from building a new audience base in new markets, theAsianparent is also looking at expanding its reach in current markets. According to Roshni, the past few years have seen an increased involvement of fathers when it comes to parenting.

“This expands our audience base to include another important decision maker in Asian households, the fathers. Our expansion will include building more resources for dads wanting to improve their parenting skills,” she said.
 
theAsianparent is owned and operated by Tickled Media Pte Ltd, which also operates Kidlander.com and Pregnant.sg.

Reaching the decision makers

According to theAsianparent’s 2015 Digital Mum Survey, Asian mothers influence 83% of all household purchase decisions.
 
“Asian mothers have gone digital, with over 80% of women in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia increasing their usage of the Internet once they become mums; and they are also going online via their smartphones," Roshni said.
 
“With theAsianparent accessible through all these non-traditional communication channels, we are able to provide marketers a more targeted approach in reaching the mom audience,” she added.
 
The survey, conducted by theAsianparent from February-March this year, polled a total of 2,700 respondents across Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and India. The company was unable to provide a breakdown of the number of respondents from each country.
 
Findings of the survey, which sought to highlight the habits of mothers in this region, broke down insights by country:
 
Singapore

• The number of mums likely to use online communities for advice has increased by 20%.

• The top three topics read by moms online are parenting tips (93%), activities to do with the family (76%), and education & enrichment tips (71%).

• 98% use WhatsApp as their primary messaging app.

Malaysia

• 40% of moms said that their magazine reading fell after becoming a mom, compared to 16% last year.

• The top three topics read by moms online are parenting tips (74%), health & nutrition tips (68%) and cooking & baking tips (60%)

• 83% use WhatsApp as their primary messaging app.

Indonesia

• 83% of moms interact online with other moms at least once per week.

• The top three topics read by moms online are parenting tips (80%), education & enrichment tips (77%), and health & nutrition tips (73%)

• 80% use Blackberry Messenger (BBM) as their primary messaging app.

Thailand

• The number of moms who consider themselves chief household decision makers grew from 85% to 90% this year.

• The top three topics read by moms online are parenting tips (94%), health & nutrition tips (55%), and cooking & baking tips (71%).

• 97% use LINE as their primary messaging app.

To read the survey report [PDF] in full with other country breakdowns, click here.

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