Southeast Asian parent community platform and mom-and-baby products retailer The Parentinc has acquired Motherswork in a deal that will see it launch a brick-and-mortar strategy across the region.
The cash-cum-stock transaction will see Motherswork’s CEO and key employees receiving shares in The Parentinc, while enabling them to expand its footprint into Southeast Asia.
Motherswork is fully self-funded and sustainable, according to its founder and CEO Sharon Wong.
The 25-year-old Singapore-based small and medium enterprise (SME) firm caters to the premium mom-and-baby segment and runs 12 offline stores across Singapore and China. It stocks over 300 brands with exclusive distribution of over 20 labels including Avent, Joolz and Stokke.
The merger will see The Parentinc launch new Southeast Asian brick-and-mortar stores under the Motherswork brand, marking an expansion of the group’s strategy, which previously focused solely on online content and community building (Tickled Media, theAsianParent) and e-commerce (through its product line Mama’s Choice).
Motherswork’s first Southeast Asia outlet will be in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, and will open in April. This will be followed by new branches in Indonesia and Thailand. At the same time, Motherswork will also tap on The Parentinc’s expertise in online content, community and e-commerce to capture new digitally-savvy mothers and mothers-to-be across the region. The Parentinc has an online network of 20 million people on its app, according to its founder and CEO Roshni Mahtani-Cheung.
Mahtani-Cheung added that the newly merged entity will collectively generate $40 million in annual revenue. Motherswork is already profitable. The ParentInc turned EBITDA positive late last year and will focus on growing its commerce business. One of its main priorities in 2024 will be to grow its cash flow.
“The whole mom-and-baby ecosystem is experiencing a rally at the moment. We’re seeing some big IPOs in India from our category like Mamaearth, so I think there’s been some positive traction. But for us, we are no longer in the VC business of growth at all costs. We are here to run a profitable business,” said Mahtani-Cheung in an interview with DealStreetAsia.
She added that the firm isn’t actively fundraising at the moment, but said that if The ParentInc intends to expand into more markets, then it will explore a capital raise for that purpose.
Singapore-based The ParentInc last raised $22 million in equity and debt in 2022. The round was led by East Ventures and joined by Central Retail Corporation, WHG Holdings, with debt contributed by DBS Bank. The Southeast Asian firm is also backed by Fosun International, Global Grand Leisure, JD.com, LINE SEA Corp, Mirae Asset-Naver New Growth Fund, Redbadge Pacific, SCB 10X, Tigris Capital, and Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India.
In 2022, The Parentinc completed the acquisitions of Webtretho and Bé Yêu, top women and parenting communities in Vietnam.