Flipkart invests in parenting social network Tinystep

Popular e-commerce giant Flipkart has invested an undisclosed amount in parenting-focused social network Tinystep. This would be Flipkart’s second such investment in as many weeks. Tinystep is an app-first social network for parents, founded in July by Suhail Abidi, an IIT-Kanpur and Stanford Graduate School of Business alum.

Nishant Verman, head of corporate development at Flipkart, in an email said
“This concept has great potential in the existing market. It is a much-needed tech product in the parenting domain. The core team has a perfect blend of young, energetic and talented individuals who can take this product to the next level. The childcare industry holds massive potential and Tinystep, being a community-driven product, is definitely going in the right direction towards dominating it.”

According to Tinystep management team, they will use the money raised from Flipkart to strengthen its team and get service providers on board, a crucial step that will help convert conversations on the network into revenue-generating transactions.

“We want to get services providers such as daycare and medical professionals on board, the kids’ services market in India is estimated at about $25 billion (about Rs 1.70 lakh crore). The company is adding about 5,000 parents every week,” said Abidi.

The recent investment will be Flipkart’s latest in a series of transactions by the company in the past six months. In December, Flipkart, along with investment firm Blume Ventures, injected about $1 million in mobile gaming company Mech Mocha Game Studios.

The e-commerce giant, currently valued at $15 billion, also participated in a Rs 50-crore seed-stage funding round in mobile technology startup Cube26 Software, along with its biggest backer, Tiger Global. It has also acquired a minority stake in GPS navigation and location-based services provider MapmyIndia last month for an undisclosed amount.