OAKLAND — Babylist, an e-commerce platform for baby products, has raised $40 million in Series C funding led by new investor Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from Halogen Ventures, 500 Global, Next Play Capital, and Marcy Venture Partners.
Babylist says it is profitable and will use the new capital to expand its ability to serve the baby’s entire community – not just the parents, but the family and friends that together plan, prepare and shop for the arrival of a child. The company will also accelerate its business by opening showrooms to improve people’s ability to find and experience the products they need ahead of purchase, as well as look towards international expansion. As part of this funding round, which brings Babylist’s total raised to $50 million, Sonya Brown, Norwest General Partner, will join its Board of Directors.
“We’ve successfully operated in an overlooked, yet massive, category serving an unmet need for millions of new parents, their extended families, and their circles of friends,” said Natalie Gordon, founder and CEO of Babylist. “We’re proud of the significant market share we’ve captured by scaling Babylist profitably. The arrival of a new child is a life stage that inspires a distinct set of consumer behaviors, with unique economics specific to each baby and their community. Our experience building the business around this community need over the last 10 years sets us up to truly benefit from Norwest’s ability to help category-changing brands grow. The additional resources Sonya and her team bring to the table will help us achieve our ambitious goals, especially in connection with how we use technology to improve the experience we offer.”
Utilizing robust purchase data and expert-led guidance, Babylist helps parents, family and friends buy best-in-class products at a critical, deeply personal moment in their lives. The baby products market is large and growing, at $67 billion. For consumers, it can also be overwhelming, even when they are motivated to purchase in support of new babies and their families. Babylist has become the go-to solution to prepare for and welcome a new baby, with more than half of first-time parents registering with the company. As a result of Babylist’s commerce and content platform, the brand has access to unique customer insights which provide better predictive capabilities for parenting purchasing trends.
Babylist has steadily scaled its business and achieved profitability with minimal outside investment. 8 million people made purchases on Babylist in the last year, and the company is on track to achieve $250 million in 2021 revenue. Babylist’s unique business model – which focuses on providing both information and products to extremely high-intent, child-focused consumers – supports diverse revenue streams, including direct purchases from Babylist and partner retailers and a robust advertising business based on its highly engaging content.
“Babylist’s growth across multiple revenue streams with such limited outside funding has been nothing short of staggering, and their potential is even bigger,” said Sonya Brown, General Partner at Norwest. “We see tremendous potential in the booming baby products sector — a market that could reach $88.7 billion in the next five years. Under Natalie’s leadership, Babylist is already positioned to become the unparalleled category leader.”
