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Flipkart-backed parenting social networking app Tinystep has raised an undisclosed amount from an ace Silicon Valley investor Mathew Glickman.
Glickman is also the founder of world’s leading online parental platform BabyCenter, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1999.
In earlier years, Glickman held product management and executive positions at Intuit, Inc., and was CFO of Teach for America, Inc. He is currently Chairman of NovoEd, an online technology firm that was incubated and spun out of Stanford.
With mentoring and funds from Glickman, the Bengaluru-based firm will use the funds to develop the product, technology and expand its existing team of 22 people.
Tinystep, with a community-driven approach helps its users to connect with parents and discuss various aspects of parentage. Launched in September 2015 by Suhail Abidi, an IIT Kanpur alumnus, the company received its first funding from Flipkart in January this year. Besides connecting parents, the Tinystep app has features such as question and answer forums, where users can get their queries addressed and also provides relevant content on pregnancy and overall parenting guidance for kids up to 12 years. The company already has over 40,000 users and is doubling that every month.
Marketing campaign soon Abidi told BusinessLine that Tinystep was formed after taking inspiration from BabyCentre and thus Glickman coming on board of Tinystep will help the company become the largest social networking site for parents in the coming years. “We are soon going to launch a marketing campaign and are in process of tying up with hospitals, schools etc for widening our reach,” Abidi added.
The company doesn’t plan to monetise its services from its users but will target product manufacturers for advertisements.
“Social media for parents has a great potential in India as the child care industry is growing multifolds. The rise of nuclear families is also leading to the growth of such apps or services where parents look up to other parents for guidance,” said Abidi.
The other players in the segment are BabyChakra and Mycity4kids, amongst others which are focused on child service provider listing, accumulating reviews and rating, having brand partnerships, selling products.
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