Launched less than a year ago, Beibei.com benefits from a relaxation in China's one-child policy.

Beibei.com, a flash-sale retail site of children’s products based in Hangzhou, has raised $100 million in a series C financing led by China-based venture capital firms Capital Today and New Horizon Capital. Two previous investors, China-based Banyan Capital and U.S. based IDG Capital Partners also participated. With this latest funding the online retailer is now valued at $1 billion, the company says.

Launched less than a year ago, in April 2014, Beibei.com sells children’s products at steep discounts for a limited time, mainly to mothers between 25 and 35 years old, the company says.

More than 5,000 brands have sold products on Beibei.com and the retailer says 10 million consumers have made purchases through its site. The company says its monthly sales exceed 200 million yuan ($32.04 million), and 70% of orders stem from mobile devices.

Beibei.com says it will use the money in part to attract more national brands to sell through its site.

“Children products (in China) mainly sell through online marketplaces, by contrast, we sell them in flash sales,” Beibei.com CEO Zhang Lianglun says. He adds that many shoppers buy from mobile devices because sales on Beibei.com last for only a short time and quantities are limited, requiring shoppers to buy quickly or risk missing out.

advertisement

The Chinese government changed its one-child policy late in 2013, leading some couples to have more children and a growth of online sales in children’s products. Chinese policy now allows parents who are both only children to have two children. Online sales of children’s products in China more than doubled in 2014 to reach about 150 billion yuan ($24.03 billion) in 2014, according to Chinese research firm China E-Commerce Research Center.

Favorite