HONG KONG, April 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MAMA+, which runs Davdian.com, a Chinese social commerce platform dedicated to helping mothers, has raised tens of millions of US dollars in a Series C round. Eight Roads Ventures led the funding with participation by GSR Ventures, Core Capital, Steamboat Ventures, Lightspeed China Partners and GWC. Eight Roads is the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Limited, one of the largest investment management companies in the world. MAMA+ will use the funds to enhance user experience, strengthen its supply chain and expand its team.
Davdian.com draws together a powerful online and offline community of mothers who share their experiences in 'V-Friend Groups', learn about parenthood in 'Mama Classes', attend events hosted by Key Opinion Leaders and purchase products for both themselves and their children. Two years after its launch in 2014, Davdian.com has an active user base of several millions across tier one and two cities in China. It is now steadily expanding into other tier two and three cities.
Parents in China are spending more on safe, higher quality and branded goods for their children. Mothers currently control 80% of household spend in China and the expected baby boom following the introduction of a two-child policy promises to further increase consumer spending on mother and child products.
Davdian.com offers a highly-curated selection of products, based on trusted recommendations from key influencers and users and with strict quality control in place. To-date, over 8,000 books from 100+ publishers, and a wide-ranging selection of high quality, trusted products from 500+ global brands are available on the platform.
Fanghua Wu, Co-founder and CEO of MAMA+ commented, "A number of tier one USD funds approached us, and we eventually chose Eight Roads to lead this investment as we believe in their expertise in the consumer and ecommerce sector and our highly aligned visions in supporting mothers. We are confident Eight Roads' strengths and resources will help us advance our strategy to further innovate our platform for the benefit of mothers and families in China."
Joe Chang, Partner of Eight Roads Ventures, said, "We are thrilled to be investors in an inspirational company like MAMA+ that is helping mothers to take better care of the most precious thing in their lives, their children. MAMA+ typifies the companies we aim to back in the consumer technology sector in China -- companies who address important consumer needs and demonstrate their value through their explosive growth and the deep loyalty and overwhelmingly positive feedback of their customers."
He added, "Our investment in MAMA+ is reflective of our aims in investing in great companies in China who create deep value for their customers, and a continuation of our heritage in backing and helping build industry leaders like Alibaba, AsiaInfo, iSoftstone and WuXi PharmaTech."
About MAMA+
Beijing Bravetime Tech Co. Ltd. ("MAMA+") was established in October 2014 and received angel funding from Angel Plus in the same month. Since then, MAMA+ has received funding and support from a number of venture capitalists, namely GSR Ventures, Disney's investment arm Steamboat Ventures, Lightspeed China Partners and LGT. In March 2017, MAMA+ closed its Series C funding led by Eight Roads Ventures with participation by top tier investors such as Core Capital and GWC.
MAMA+ runs a social commerce platform Davdian.com that focuses on parent-child reading and supports growth and learning in mothers. Two years on from its launch, Davdian.com has several millions of active users and becomes the largest Chinese mother community.
MAMA+'s vision is to help every mother become better. Its innovative community-based business model helps mothers improve household financial situations and realize individual values. In February 2017, MAMA+ signed the United Nation's Women's Empowerment Principles and became the 24th signatory company from China.
About Eight Roads Ventures
Eight Roads Ventures is a global venture capital firm that backs entrepreneurs with aspirations for greatness. It has over 20 years of venture capital experience in China and has supported over 80 companies in the country's healthcare, enterprise technology and consumer technology sectors. As the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Limited, Eight Roads is committed to building bold and meaningful businesses and together with its associated funds manages $4bn of capital across offices in China, Japan, UK, India and the US. www.eightroads.com @8roadsventures
