SINGAPORE-BASED startup The Parentinc has acquired home-grown baby-product retailer Motherswork for an undisclosed sum, both companies jointly announced on Thursday (Jan 18).

The Parentinc runs parenthood site theAsianparent, a content and community platform for parents in South-east Asia. It also owns and operates direct-to-consumer brand Mama’s Choice, which manufactures and retails halal pregnancy, nursing, baby care and household products.

In 2022, The Parentinc acquired Webtretho, Vietnam’s largest online community platform for women.

Founded by entrepreneur Sharon Wong in 1998, Motherswork is an omnichannel retailer of premium mother, baby and children’s products. It has two stores in Singapore and 10 in China.

Roshni Mahtani Cheung, group chief executive officer and founder of The Parentinc, said that Motherswork would play a “pivotal role” in expanding the startup’s offline presence in the region, noting that 70 per cent of retail in South-east Asia is still conducted offline.

This will be achieved through establishing more Motherswork stores in key markets including Vietnam, with these stores exclusively distributing The Parentinc’s consumer brand Mama’s Choice.

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Cheung added that the acquisition will “further refine” The Parentinc’s content-to-community-to-commerce business model, “which not many companies have pulled off successfully”.

Meanwhile, Motherswork’s CEO and founder Wong said that the acquisition would enable the brand to expand its footprint into other South-east Asian countries through The Parentinc. She noted the “combined synergies’‘ of both companies, which will help the group reach greater heights.

The Parentinc’s acquisition of Motherswork also brings it a step closer towards its aim of an initial public offering (IPO).

It hopes to follow in the footsteps of FirstCry and Mamaearth, two mother-and-baby brands that recently moved forward with the listing of their shares.

Mamaearth’s current IPO valuation is set at US$1.2 billion. FirstCry, which filed for IPO in December 2023, is said to be eyeing a valuation between US$3.5 billion and US$3.75 billion.