Delhi-based online maternity and parenting lifestyle management startup Baby Destination has raised $312,000 (Rs 2 crore) from GEMs Partners, a micro venture capital fund, and Tariq Khan, an angel investor based in New York.
Operated by BD Parenting Infotech Pvt. Ltd, Baby Destination is a digital parenting community where users can learn and share parenting experiences and recommendations.
The startup was founded by entrepreneur couple Tamanna Dhamija and Tarun Dhamija in 2016. Tamanna previously worked with General Motors Asset Management while Tarun was with Deutsche Bank and Citigroup in the past.
“The fresh capital will be used for pushing internal growth and hiring in key areas such as technology and product development, community management, business development and marketing and sales. The funding will also support our long-term goal to become a globally recognised digital parenting platform for personalised information and product discovery,” Tamanna said in a statement.
The startup provides parenting information and resources depending on the child’s life stage through online micro-communities, social media engagement, video parenting and offline events targeting mothers and kids.
The company claims to have a network of three million mothers on Facebook and engages with more than 4,000 mothers on WhatsApp to create a peer-to-peer digital community.
“We aim to achieve at least 1 million monthly user sessions by next year-end and become operationally EBITDA positive, as we continue expanding our B2B client base, tie-ups and revenues,” Tarun said.
Recent deals in the baby and maternity care sector include pregnancy and baby care products startup The Moms Co. which raised $1 million (Rs 6.5 crore) in September in a Series A round of funding co-led by DSG Consumer Partners and Saama Capital.
In July, parenting blog and kids’ events discovery startup mycity4kids secured fresh capital from its existing investors.
In April, media reports said Mumbai-based baby and kids’ products portal Hopscotch.in was in advanced talks to secure $20 million in a Series D funding round from new and existing investors.
In March, Bengaluru-based parenting startup BabyOnBoard raised seed investment from a clutch of individual investors.
Mumbai-based parenting and baby care startup Kidsstoppress.com had raised an undisclosed amount from IIFL Wealth Management founder Karan Bhagat and a clutch of other angel investors in October 2016.
FirstCry, an e-commerce platform for kids and mothers, acquired Mahindra & Mahindra’s baby care business BabyOye in October last year.