BabyChakra raises undisclosed funds from Mark Mobius-backed Equanimity Ventures Fund and others

The startup plans to use the funds to expand its platform in other languages and offer a more personalised experience to users. 

Online parenting platform BabyChakra has raised an undisclosed pre-Series B round from a clutch of investors including Mark Mobius-backed Equanimity Ventures Fund, Facebook Director Anand Chandrasekaran, ex-Lightspeed Ventures investor Maninder Gulati, Silicon Valley Tech investor Gideon Marks, and others.

BabyChakra plans to use the funds in language expansion of its platform which currently invites over two million families every month to exchange information and tips on pregnancy and parenting. Nearly 70 percent of these visitors are from Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, making language innovation imperative. 

“Fresh capital will be used to further strengthen BabyChakra’s region and language specific content and communities and deepen personalisation in the product platform,” BabyChakra said in a statement.

The funds will also go into technology improvement such that a more personalised platform experience is offered to every individual user.

Naiyya Saggi, Founder & CEO, BabyChakra said, 

“We are delighted to welcome industry leaders and domain experts to the BabyChakra family. Today, we serve a pressing need for India: more than 70 percent of our users are families in Tier 2, 3 towns in India who use us in 10 languages to make critical health and wellness decisions for mothers and children. Apart from having the largest and most engaged online community of mothers on our platform, we are rapidly connecting the healthcare, education and childcare ecosystem to Indian families.”

At present, BabyChakra’s marketplace lists over 23,000 verified services and 12,000 products over 50 categories in India. More than 50 million content pieces (mostly generated by other users) are consumed monthly on the BabyChakra app. And 85 percent of all conversations on the platform are focussed on health, wellness and nutrition. Going ahead, BabyChakra intends to support over 20 million families annually.

In a statement to the media, Gideon Marks, Silicon Valley investor & Google Mentor to BabyChakra said,

“I have worked and invested in numerous startups in my career, some of which went public and some acquired. In BabyChakra, I identified very similar characteristics to those I saw in those companies. Great passionate leadership and team, solving a real problem, creating a habit forming product and addressing a huge market in India.”

This is BabyChakra’s third funding round. It had earlier secured Series-A funding from top digital health investor RoundGlass Partners, and seed funding from Mumbai Angels, Patni Family Office and Singapore Angel Network.