Leading parenting portal Babytree landed RMB three billion (USD 448 million) this June. The COO of Babytree, Wei Xiaowei, made the announcement this Tuesday. This latest round of financing is in RMB and not USD, indicating Babytree’s readiness to return to China’s capital markets.
“By returning to China’s capital markets, we’ll become an enterprise to be recognized by serving tens of millions of Chinese families, to be able to lead the industry with a clearer purpose,” said Wei.
In July last year, Babytree secured USD 300 million led by the US-listed Chinese online cosmetic retailer Jumei. This March, the company was rumored to be dissembling its VIE structure in the U.S., ready to go public in China before May. This turned out to be a rumor, and was dismissed by Babytree’s CEO Wang Huainan.
Targeting pregnant women and those with babies under six years old, Babytree is a platform that not only runs e-commerce sectors, but also offers services ranging from early education to advertisement. According to Wei, Babytreee will next focus on healthcare and education.
Research firm Analysys International reported earlier this month that Babytree ranked first among all Chinese parenting apps in Q1 2016 in terms of daily active users, with an average of 91,984 new users per day on Android and 62,579 on iOS.
(Top photo from Baidu Images)