ZenParent, a digital media startup running a parenting tips website by the same name, has grabbed a $500K round from i2india Ventures. i2india first experiments with ideas within itself and then provides funding for further scaling up.
ZenParent is a parenting-focussed blog with presence on both desktop and mobile platforms. The blog provides parenting tips to individuals, which ranges from everything between food, recreational activities, product reviews to dinner conversations. The idea first popped up in i2india Ventures, an incubator which experiments with ideas before providing further resources.
ZenParent currently has a team of 15 writers or parenting experts who contribute to the content being published on desktop as well as mobile platforms.
Talking about the recent fundin, CEO Supriya Hiremagalur says,
There is no one single source of great content for parents in the Indian context. So we decided to start this.
And even though traction for the startup in terms of visitor numbers and downloads looks relatively low, ZenParent has been successful in garnering widespread appreciation, largely due to its highly curated and timely content. What also helps ZenParent is the fact that it currently acts as the only resource platform, tailor-made for the new-age, working Indian parents.
ZenParent’s content is customised to suit 80-odd combinations of characteristics, e.g., working parent + mother or stay-at-home dads. Detailed mapping of their customer helps ZenParent provide more relevant content.
ZenParent’s recent funding round however also points to a new, defining trend in India’s currently regressed digital media scene. Startups in the field of Digital Media have started receiving substantial funding from investors, even though revenue sources in the same are marginal and limited.
Recently The Better India, a digital media startup publishing stories which create a more positive environment among Indians, raised a second round from Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, thus further indicating growing investor interest in content related startups.
Earlier, ScoopWhoop created waves in India’s Digital Content scene when Bharti Softbank acquired a 36.5% stake in the startup for a speculatively large sum.
