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Hello reader,
Several of my friends have become parents recently and, understandably, I have been seeing less of them.
Their children are obviously now their priority, so we have to make some adjustments for our relationship to stay strong. Instead of having cocktails till 3 a.m., for example, joining them for their 15th coffee of the day at 3 p.m. will have to do.
For me, it basically means meeting these new parents where they are and adapting to their new needs. I feel like that’s similar to what The Parentinc is doing with its deal to acquire Motherswork.
The Parentinc has discovered that while it can reach a lot of parents via its strong online communities or ecommerce offerings, some still prefer the offline experience of visiting a store. That’s what Motherswork is bringing to the company.
Today we look at:
- The Parentinc’s bold move into offline retail
- How Razer Fintech tapped BillEase to provide BNPL payments
- Other newsy highlights such as Canva closing in on a US$15 billion share sale and bookkeeping automation platform Bluesheets’s US$6 million funding haul.
Premium summary
The Parentinc taps Motherswork for offline push
Image credit: Timmy Loen
The Parentinc, which operates community platform theAsianparent, is moving into the world of offline retail by taking a majority stake in Motherswork, a premium mom and baby retailer based in Singapore.
Under the deal, which involves an undisclosed sum of cash and equity, The Parentinc will eventually gain full ownership of Motherswork.
- IPO-bound: The acquisition is the latest in a series of transformations that The Parentinc has undergone since its early days as an online blog. Today, its site and mobile app have a combined reach of 30 million parents across seven markets in Asia. The deal also sets the firm on an IPO trajectory.
- Scaling up: Motherswork has two flagship stores in Singapore and 10 in China. CEO and founder Sharon Wong believes the deal will allow the company to “scale very rapidly,” with a new store set to open in Vietnam this April. However, she told Tech in Asia that the plan isn’t to open a lot of stores but rather just one in each of Southeast Asia’s six major markets.
- Growth goals: The Parentinc, which also owns direct-to-consumer brands Mama’s Choice and Little Rei, is hitting “close to S$40 million” (US$30 million) in annual revenue, according to founder and group CEO Roshni Mahtani Cheung says. It also turned EBITDA positive in September 2023. Cheung expects revenue to hit S$100 million (US$74 million) in the next three years.
Read more: The Parentinc bets big on offline retail with Motherswork acquisition
Razer-sharp deal
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