The firm recently launched an app which offers curated articles from experts, a baby development and milestone tracker, and a photo booth and photo editor

theAsianparent, one of Southeast Asia’s leading community and content platforms for mums and parents, has raised an “8-figure US dollars” funding in an oversubscribed Series C round, led by by Fosun, a family-focused multinational company.

China’s largest online retailer JD.com, Southeast Asia-China fund ATM Capital, and global alternative asset manager Redbadge Pacific, besides existing Series B investors Global Grand Leisure and WHG Capital also joined the round.

With the fresh investment, theAsianparent looks to drive its expansion into new markets in Asia and Africa, as well as accelerate plans to further develop its recently-launched mobile app.

theAsianparent began as parenting blog, and has since evolved into a multinational tech company and digital publishing house that focuses on content and community platforms for Asian women. The company claims it reaches over 23.5 million users monthly across Southeast Asia, India and Africa. It also publishes Asian Money Guide (a personal finance and career portal for women), HerStyleAsia (delivering cutting-edge content on the Asian entertainment, style, and culture scenes), and Nonilo (a food, home, and DIY lifestyle hub).

In September 2018, theAsianparent launched its mobile app. A community-driven platform, it provides parents and parents-to-be with tips and a support network. Other features of the app include curated articles from experts across Southeast Asia, a baby development and milestone tracker, a photo booth and photo editor, as well as contests and polls for parents to participate and learn from.

Since launch, the company has expanded to 180 people across 12 countries and districts, including Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, India, Taiwan, Japan and Nigeria.

“Over the years, we have grown from a parenting blog into a multinational company with offices in 12 countries. Our move from a content platform to a social network wasn’t an easy one, but has significantly accelerated our business to serve as a leading source of information for parents around Asia and the world. One thing that hasn’t changed is our focus on parenting from an Asian perspective,” said Roshni Mahtani, Founder and CEO of theAsianparent.

“The overall population structure of Southeast Asia is young, and the major economies maintain a high level of fertility. theAsianparent, as the largest maternal and child community in Southeast Asia, has won the trust of young mothers in Southeast Asia and has a huge commercial space. In the past few years, theAsianparent has fully verified its business development and product evolution capabilities. It is an outstanding entrepreneurial team,” said Wilson Jin, Chairman of Fosun RZ Capital, the VC arm of Fosun.

“Having the largest community and traffic in the mom and baby segment in the region, theAsianparent ‘s addition to the portfolio is strategic and extremely synergistic. Through a deeper collaboration with Fosun’s ecosystems, our efforts are made to accelerate the growth of the company and expand the depth and breadth of its reach,” Jun added.

In May last year, theAsianparent.com’s parent Tickled Media raised US$6.7 million in a funding round led by local leisure and travel services company Global Grand Leisure. Singapore-based VC firm Mountain Pine Capital, as well as Tickled Media’s existing investors also contributed to this round.

In 2015, Tickled Media raised a “multi-million dollar investment” from Vertex Venture Holdings.

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