Qiao Yu'er Files IPO Prospectus: Building a Knowledge Marketplace in the Maternal and Childcare Sector

To carve out a share of the online maternal and infant market, one must possess distinct competitive advantages. Some have chosen to start with e-commerce, aiming to build the “Tmall” of the maternal and infant sector; others have focused on online consultations, striving to become the “Chunyu Doctor” of this field. In contrast, Qiao Yuer has opted to leverage shared parenting knowledge, creating an upgraded version of “Zhihu” tailored to the maternal and infant industry.

Parenting Knowledge Base Is the Core Competitiveness of the Product

With the relaxation of the two-child policy and the upgrading of consumption awareness among young parents, the maternal and infant care and early education markets are poised to enter a new golden age. Data shows that in 2013, the transaction volume of maternal and infant products through online channels in China reached RMB 86.03 billion, with an online penetration rate of 6% for retail sales of products for pregnant women, infants, and children. It is projected that by 2017, the market size for maternal and infant care will reach RMB 2.5919 trillion, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2%. The transaction volume via online channels for products targeting pregnant women, infants, and children continues to grow rapidly, and the online channel penetration rate is expected to deepen further. However, in this trillion-yuan market for products catering to pregnant women, infants, and children, no single brand has yet captured even a 1% market share.

Moreover, existing parenting platforms are undergoing a comprehensive upgrade from a “social + e-commerce” model to a “knowledge + service” system.

In this broader context,Qiao Yuer is building a parenting ecosystem centered on a knowledge marketplace, with early childhood education products as the vehicle, medical services as a supplement, and community operations as the binding agent, to create the parenting platform with the greatest growth value.Qiaoyuer serves expectant parents and families with children under the age of six, providing them with efficient and authoritative parenting knowledge and services. The company advocates transforming limited parenting resources into replicable knowledge and services, thereby benefiting more parents.

Qiaoyuer is a subsidiary of Beijing Xingtong Technology Co., Ltd. On March 16, 2015, after conducting market research, the team decided to delve deeply into the internet-based maternal and child care sector. They spent two months assembling the team, and the company was officially established on May 15, 2015.

Why did Qiaoyuer choose knowledge-based Q&A social networking as its product entry point and position its parenting knowledge base as the core competitive advantage? Ji Xing, CEO of Qiaoyuer, cited three reasons.

First, from the perspective of user needs, products in the maternal and infant industry can be broadly categorized into several types, including content, social networking, e-commerce, tracking, tools, healthcare, education, and entertainment. Among these, knowledge, social networking, medical services, and early childhood education services are the most essential and high-frequency.

Secondly, from the perspective of social value, leveraging knowledge-based social networking as an entry point can alleviate the current strain on resources in the maternal and infant industry. Ji Xing argues that this industry is heavily resource-dependent, relying on doctors, experts, parenting coaches, influencers, and other professionals. While products within the sector compete fiercely for these resources, such competition merely serves as a tactical maneuver and fails to generate substantial social value. In contrast, replicating and scaling these resources creates greater social impact. This value is primarily manifested in the knowledge and services these professionals provide.

Furthermore, public data shows that “Baby Knows” conducted 30 million Q&A sessions over a period of more than one year, while “Mommy Knows” acquired millions of users within a single year by relying solely on medical Q&A services. These cases exemplify the process by which expert physician resources deliver knowledge to users.

It is evident that clear, comprehensive, accurate, and personalized parenting knowledge is an essential need for every mother-and-baby user.

Building a Comprehensive Maternal and Child Healthcare Service Chain

Zheng Zaoming, Chairman of Wenkang Group and founder of Xunyi Wenyao Network, once stated that creating a truly outstanding product requires fulfilling three criteria. First, the content of the product must be prioritized and sufficiently authoritative. Second, the product’s ecosystem and service chain must be comprehensive. Third, it must possess at least one feature that is unequivocally leading within the industry.

As a company incubated and invested in by XYWY, Qiao Yuer has gained a profound understanding of these three points.

Q&A-based social interaction is the core offering provided by Qiao Yuer. Many have attempted to introduce Zhihu’s model into the maternal and infant sector, typically by implementing online Q&A features. Although such Q&A services address a rigid user need, this demand occurs at a relatively low frequency. Qiao Yuer believes that the internet is a vital tool in the new era, efficiently and cost-effectively facilitating connections between people. Consequently, social interaction has become a high-frequency, moderately rigid user need. In Qiao Yuer’s product design, interpersonal communication functions are more prominently reflected through follow and follower mechanisms.

In response, Qiao Yuer has introduced a comment feature for answers, building on its Q&A interactions, with the aim of sparking discussions among users.

Centered on knowledge-based Q&A social interaction, Qiaoyuer is supported by video courses, a knowledge hub, and personalized experiences. It continuously gathers top obstetricians, pediatricians, health consultants, exercise specialists, and early childhood education experts in the field, aggregating and organizing their extensive knowledge and experience into formats that can be rapidly disseminated and made accessible to users. For instance, in its early childhood education segment, Qiaoyuer has acquired specialized teams to leverage established R&D capabilities and advanced concepts for developing early education curricula. Huami Baobao, under the Qiaoyuer brand, serves as a platform for disseminating early childhood education knowledge. The team uploads its independently developed, high-quality video courses online, enabling more parents to learn remotely and thereby enhancing parent-child relationships.

In late December 2015, the first version of the Qiao Yuer (Smart Parenting) APP was officially launched. Its accompanying on-site early education services had already been implemented in three kindergartens in October 2015, while offline medical services were being rolled out on a small scale. By the end of 2015, the team had completed the initial establishment of the Knowledge Center, which comprises five knowledge bases: Popular Science, Case Studies, Encyclopedia, Video Library, and Course Library. Among these, the Video Library has archived over 1,200 minutes of broadcast-quality videos from satellite TV channels and produced more than 500 web-streaming quality videos. These resources cover areas such as pregnancy care, feeding, nursing, common diseases, exercise, psychology, and early education for infants and toddlers aged zero to three years, with plans to further expand the scale and volume of video production in the future.

Team Introduction

It is understood that the core team of Qiaoyuer consists of nine members, with the three key leaders responsible for product, operations, and marketing being long-time partners who have worked or collaborated with the CEO for many years.

In 2005, Ji Xing returned to China after studying in Germany. He embarked on his entrepreneurial journey in 2006. From 2007 to 2012, he primarily worked as a marketing consultant and strategic management consultant. Ji Xing told VCBeat that this period of professional experience had the most profound impact on him, equipping him with distinct advantages in strategy and marketing. Between 2012 and 2014, Ji Xing launched ventures in the e-commerce sector, putting his consulting expertise into practical application. In late 2014, he founded Hanbang Medical, focusing on mid-to-high-end medical services. The company later received strategic investment from Wenkang Group (operator of XYWY.com) and initiated the incubation of the Qiao Yuer project.

The team currently consists of 36 members, primarily divided into the Knowledge and Service R&D Center, Technology Center, Operations Center, Product Center, Academic Affairs Center, and Marketing Center.

Currently, the Qiao Yuer team is seeking Series A financing.