LINE acquires theAsianparent parent company shares

LINE Southeast Asia has acquired shares of The Parentinc, best known for its flagship brand, theAsianparent, a Southeast Asia-wide community platform for parents. According to a press statement, the acquisition lays the foundation for both companies to disrupt the mother and baby-care market category. The two companies will also explore synergies in the APAC digital advertising market which is poised to grow 13% annually from 2021 to 2031, amassing a total addressable market of US$2.8 trillion. 

The APAC baby care products market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 8% from 2021 to 2026 to reach a market size of US$48 billion in 2026, up from US$28 billion in 2019.  The Parentic focuses on building content, community, and commerce solutions for pregnant women and young mothers. The Parentinc also owns and operates Mama’s Choice, direct to consumer brand that manufactures and retails safe, natural, and Halal pregnancy, nursing, baby care, and household products that are design-and-tested in Singapore for families in Asia. In 2021, its revenue saw a 100% YoY growth, and plans to pursue this trajectory while expanding to even more markets this year, said the company

Roshni Mahtani, CEO of The Parentinc, said that the company is thrilled to add LINE to its list of strategic partners. In 2019, JD.com and SCB 10X, a holding company of Siam Commercial Bank came onboard as strategic investors to The Parentic. 

EJ Lee, CEO of LINE Plus Corporation, which supports LINE's global business development, said that it was impressed with The Parentinc’s remarkable growth and successful transition from a digital publishing business into a content-community-commerce tech company. "We were impressed with In our interactions with The Parentinc team, their commitment to excellence shines through. It is clear that they have created a world-class company driven by the core mission to improve families’ lives. We couldn’t be more excited to become a shareholder and help The Parentinc solidify its position in SEA and beyond,” he added.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to LINE and The Parentic for comment.

Separately, LINE NEXT, LINE's venture dedicated to developing and expanding the global NFT ecosystem, recently partnered with 26 companies to create NFTs based on their popular IP content and enable consumers to buy and sell NFTs. Partners will include SoftBank, NAVER, LINE Taiwan Limited, NAVER Z, LINE studio, LINE Games, CJ ENM, YG PLUS, Hashed, K Auction, SHINSEGAE, Visa, Crypto.com, Afun Interactive, AI Network, J&John, KMCA, LoadComplete, LOTTE WORLD, Mythical Games, Pangea, Peaches., 111%, Rich Alien, and WOW POINT.  Through these strategic partnerships, LINE NEXT aims to lead the expansion of the NFT ecosystem and establish a global NFT value chain. It also plans to launch its global NFT platform DOSI in the first half of this year, to support companies and creators around the world as they build markets and create communities and ecosystems for general users to buy and trade NFTs. 

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