BabyTree: The Maternal & Child Unicorn Influencing 900 Million People in China

What kind of company can reach and influence 900 million people in China?

The answer is BabyTree. Wang Huainan, founder and CEO of BabyTree, is hailed as the “Father of Google” for coining its Chinese name, and he led his team in a decade-long endeavor to build an empire in China’s maternal and infant family industry.

In July 2016, Guo Guangchang, Chairman of Fosun Group, demonstrated his keen insight by leading a RMB 3 billion investment in BabyTree. Such a substantial commitment required considerable courage during the capital winter. However, Guo’s rationale was clear: “Products developed by such steady and conventional individuals are inevitably more reassuring to families.” In describing his impression of Wang Huainan, he also succinctly articulated his investment philosophy.

Founder of BabyTreeCo-CEO Huainan Wang

On February 9, as the first maternal and infant enterprise ever invited since the establishment of the Yabuli Forum, the founder of BabyTree, China’s leading company in maternal and infant care and family servicesCo-CEO Wang Huainan Appears at the “Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum””17th Annual Conference of the Forum,“Before Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun took the stage, he shared his in-depth reflections on “The Relationship Between the Path to Happiness for Chinese Families and the Better Realization of the Chinese Dream.”

He proposed that, given China’s scarce medical resources, technological means must be employed to better match user needs with medical resources, including through remote matching. He also pointed out that there is no reason for the cost of early childhood education in China today to exceed that of higher-quality overseas programs. Most importantly, after ten years of exploration, BabyTree has committed itself to changing this status quo: the unhappiness among young Chinese families stemming from concerns about their children’s health is both real and staggering!

The following is an edited and abridged transcript of Wang Huainan’s speech:

What I’d like to discuss today is not so much the rigid metrics, such as how much data BabyTree has. Instead, I want to talk about BabyTree’s vision and our dreams—topics we don’t often address in day-to-day conversations. In the startup journey, every day is consumed with tackling immediate, pressing issues amid intense competition. However, I believe the setting here at Yabuli is well-suited for sharing these reflections.

Some of you here are quite familiar with BabyTree, while many others may not be, as we serve a niche demographic—specifically, the maternal and infant community. If any of the following individuals are in your circle, you have likely heard of BabyTree: if you know someone who is pregnant, you have probably heard of BabyTree; if you know new mothers who have recently returned to the workforce, you have almost certainly heard of BabyTree; and if you know children aged three to four, or even five to six, you have likely heard of or even used BabyTree. Therefore, BabyTree is dedicated to serving the maternal and infant community and has become a major platform bringing together young families. On this platform, users can access parenting information, engage in peer-to-peer communication, and find a supportive space for mothers to exchange advice when they feel confused or overwhelmed.

Certainly, we also address a certain level of consumer demand, whether for services or products. BabyTree is dedicated to comprehensively meeting the needs of China’s vertical demographic—specifically the maternal and infant population. You may describe BabyTree as a tool, as having social attributes, or as a social platform; all these descriptions are accurate. This is who we are.

Today, BabyTree has nearly 200 million monthly active users. As a vertical platform, our monthly reach is now comparable to that of leading tech giants such as BAT.

Therefore, we need to shift from a startup mindset to one of greater accountability. So today, I would like to discuss what an accountable mindset looks like.

If each family has one child, and each child has two parents, with China seeing approximately 18 million newborns annually, multiplying these figures suggests that the population influenced by China’s maternal and infant internet sector accounts for at least 30%–35% of the total population.

If we expand this scope slightly, each family effectively consists of seven members, with six adults focusing on a single child—comprising the couple’s own parents and their spouse’s parents. Thus, calculating 7 × 18 million × (7–8 age groups), we are impacting approximately 900 million people, accounting for roughly 60%–67% of China’s total population today. And this is merely the current situation! In recent years, there has been much discussion about the “Chinese Dream,” which is truly inspiring. I believe that, to a large extent, the Chinese Dream is essentially a dream of happiness for young Chinese families, and BabyTree has both the obligation and some capacity to help better fulfill this aspiration.

When discussing the happiness aspirations of young Chinese families, a big-data analysis of any maternal and infant community or internet platform—focusing on users’ proactive behaviors, such as the topics mothers discuss and follow—reveals two key keywords. The first is “health.” Health is sometimes a broad and ambiguous concept; even when children are not seriously ill, mothers may rush to the hospital at the slightest sign of trouble. The second is the phrase “don’t lose at the starting line,” meaning that from the moment their child is born, Chinese parents consider not only health but also education. Young Chinese families account for 30%–60% of the total number of households in China, and their sense of well-being largely depends on their satisfaction with health and education. BabyTree is precisely positioned at this critical intersection.

What is the dilemma we face? China has only 0.43 pediatricians per 1,000 children. In the World Health Organization’s assessment and ranking of fairness in health financing and distribution, China ranks 188th, India ranks 43rd, and the United States ranks 1st—a standing that is completely incongruent with our current GDP.

One evening, six months ago, I rushed my child to the Children’s Hospital, only to find it overcrowded. We then hurried to the Capital Institute of Pediatrics. The next day, I met with the director of a department there, a man in his sixties on the verge of retirement. He told me, “My patients usually travel more than ten hours by train from other provinces to Beijing, often accompanied by their entire families. It typically takes three days just to secure an appointment with me.” Sometimes, securing an appointment even requires resorting to ticket scalpers. Afterward, they endure another ten-plus hours of travel by bus and train to return home. The whole round trip takes roughly three to four days, or even nearly a week.He then asked me, “On average, how much time do you spend seeing one patient?” I replied that it must take at least 20 minutes; if we try to minimize it, perhaps 10 minutes; and if we push it further, maybe 5 minutes. As a dermatologist, he said, “When a patient stands at the door, I can tell within one minute that the child is fine! So what do I do with the remaining four minutes? I invite the parents in for psychological counseling. If the father is present, I make sure to include him; if grandparents are there, I include them as well. The whole family sits down, and we talk for those four minutes. In most cases, this alleviates the child’s anxiety significantly, so that next time, if there is a genuine issue, they may not necessarily need to come all the way to Beijing!”

The story he shared left me deeply shaken. Today, resources in major cities are likely abundant; having worked in the maternal and infant sector for ten years, I still observe this reality. From this perspective, the unhappiness experienced by young Chinese families due to their concerns about their children’s health is truly astonishing.

Let’s discuss early childhood education. From the very beginning, and from a humanistic care perspective, we place great importance on passing down our values to our children. However, the concept of early childhood education was only introduced to China between 2000 and 2003. Therefore, it has been less than 15 years since Chinese families began enrolling their children in early learning centers right after birth.

However, if we examine the current allocation of early childhood resources in China, it bears a striking resemblance to the distribution of medical resources. Parents may pay for a single 40-minute class—since children under the age of two cannot maintain focus on any activity, no matter how engaging, for longer than 40 minutes. In major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, guess how much top-tier early education centers typically charge for each 40-minute session? The fee ranges from RMB 300 to 500. Today, the cost of early childhood education in China exceeds that of even the best international programs!

Even so, the early childhood education market is projected to reach a scale of RMB 200 billion in 2017. Reflecting on BabyTree’s nearly decade-long presence as an early childhood education website and a platform for young families, we have indeed cultivated a substantial user base of 200 million. I would say this puts us on par with BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent), demonstrating that our brand has earned users’ trust. However, looking back, our dissatisfaction with our performance in early childhood education and general health services has left us, as industry practitioners, frankly feeling quite ashamed.

If we truly explore this path and elevate our ideals to a level of genuine responsibility, how should we proceed? We must rationally structure the matching between patients and medical resources. Given the scarcity of medical resources in China, relief can only be achieved by leveraging technological means to better align patient needs with available medical resources, including through remote matching.

Early childhood education should not be an exclusive resource enjoyed by the top 1% or even 0.1% of the population in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Instead, it should focus on delivering high-quality content and services, extending into local communities. I dream of a day when early learning centers are as ubiquitous as Starbucks, so that whenever I look for a place within my neighborhood where my child can engage in an hour of high-quality learning and play, I can easily find a nearby early learning or entertainment center. This is part of our responsibility.

I noticed that Mr. Guo Guangchang, Chairman of Fosun Group, is a member of the Yabuli Organizing Committee. We had in-depth cooperation with Fosun Group last year. Today, Fosun is the second-largest shareholder of Babytree. With Fosun’s investment in Babytree and Babytree’s integration into the Fosun ecosystem, we aim to address health challenges. We have the user base, the demand, and trusted channels, while Fosun is striving to build an excellent platform for matching medical resources. Recently, Fosun shared with me that many diseases can actually be predicted early in childhood, as they may be genetically inherited. However, genes can be likened to a window: if it opens, the disease manifests; if it remains closed, the disease does not occur.

Today, a simple swab of a child’s mouth is sufficient to conduct a highly accurate genetic test. As Shen Nanpeng has noted, the cost of genetic testing is decreasing exponentially. Among disease databases correlated with genetics, Fosun currently maintains the most comprehensive library for single-gene disorders. It is possible that, at birth, a mere swab could identify specific health considerations requiring attention—particularly regarding diet and environmental factors. By mitigating risks in these areas and effectively “closing” these genetic windows of vulnerability, we can significantly enhance quality of life.

When it comes to child development and early education centers, we will announce the establishment of a joint venture within the next few weeks. We will introduce a premier brand that is highly favored by children, aiming to establish our presence in China with a strategy similar to Starbucks.

BabyTree has been operating for nearly a decade. Over these ten years, our goal and dream have remained unchanged: to leverage the internet to connect parents and nurture China’s next generation of excellence. This is our new vision, formulated just under three months ago, which aims to build a membership club centered on consumption upgrades among young families. It precisely addresses the needs of Chinese mothers and young families in areas such as knowledge acquisition, social interaction and networking, growth tracking, and consumer shopping. We strive to fulfill our mission, ultimately bringing greater happiness to young families in China.

This is our dream, and we hope to share it with you, making it everyone’s dream!