Exclusive: Parenting social network TinyStep raises fresh funding from Flipkart

Bangalore-based WeHive Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which runs parenting social network TinyStep, has raised a fresh round of funding from one of its existing investors, a person privy to the development told VCCircle.

The company, according to the person cited above, has raised funding from ecommerce major Flipkart. "Flipkart has put in Rs 10.6 crore ($1.58 million) this time through its Singapore-based subsidiary firm Flipkart Logistics Pvt. Ltd," he said. Post the deal, the flipkart's holding in the company has increased to 47.19% stake.

Email queries sent to Flipkart and TinyStep's parent firm did not elicit any immediate response till the time of filing this report.

TinyStep, a platform that connects parents with child service providers and other parents raised Rs 3.2 crore ($501,000) from Flipkart soon after its launch last year, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle.

The company, which was worth $1.75 million before the previous deal, saw its valuation increasing to $2.25 million after Flipkart invested through the Singapore-based entity.

Between the two investment rounds from Flipkart, TinyStep's post-money valuation has doubled to around $5 million.

The firm, which was launched in September last year by IIT-Kanpur alumnus Suhail Abidi, also raised capital from Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor Matt Glickman in March.

Glickman is founder of US-based parenting portal BabyCenter. As part of the transaction, Glickman came in as an advisory board member.

TinyStep, which claims to be hosting the country's largest parent network, has a 20-member team comprising mostly engineers. Abidi also founded SiliconPrime Technologies in 2013. The startup claims it has more than 10,000 parents on its platform.

In the broader parenting space, a bunch of startups has come up in India. BabyCenter, BabyChakra, Parentune, ZenParent, ParentEdge, KIDSS (Kid Social Shell) and MyCity4Kids are among the players in the space.

A few ventures in the baby-care and parenting space have also raised funding recently. In May, social networking mobile app for baby-care and parenting ParentLane, which is run by Bangalore-based Discovery Info Labs Pvt. Ltd, raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from a clutch of investors led by Sujeet Kumar, former president (operations), Flipkart.

In March this year, AddoDoc Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs mobile app Babygogo that connects parents with child healthcare experts, raised Rs 2 crore ($300,000) in a seed funding round led by angel investor Rajul Garg.

Prior to that, Bangalore-based CereBrahm Innovations Pvt. Ltd, which operates parenting app BabyBerry, secured $1 million (Rs 6.8 crore) in angel funding from industrialist Nitin Bagmane and a bunch of undisclosed investors.

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