"Parenting" app Tentang Anak Close Early Stage Funding from Insignia Ventures [UPDATED]

Application parenting Tentang Anak closed seed funding at an undisclosed amount from Insignia Ventures, with participation from a number of angel investors famous. The fresh funds will be used to expand content and services for newly launched apps, as well as strengthen the team.

The angel investors include Mohammed Alabsi (Ex Chief Technology Officer Bukalapak and Ex Amazon), Herman Widjaja (Chief Technology Officer Tokopedia and Ex Facebook), Cynthia Chaerunnisa (Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer Kopi Kenangan), Agung Nugroho (Ex CEO Kudo), and Gita Prihanto (Chief Operating Officer Flip & ex-COO Ruangguru).

Tentang Anak founded in 2020 by pediatricians Mesty Ariotedjo and Garri Juanda. Both of them are husband and wife and have their own specialty. Mesty brings his expertise and medical network to Tentang Anak. Meanwhile Garri brings with him 11 years of technology experience in product, growth and M&A. He previously oversaw the business vertical marketplace, adtech, and Tokopedia logistics; and was one of Rakuten Japan's first non-Japanese product managers.

Co-founder & CEO Mesty Ariotedjo share his ideas for setting up Tentang Anak it's in building a family with Garri. Currently, many parents in Indonesia do not have direct access to child development experts. This inspired them both to form an ecosystem that can bridge millions of parents in Indonesia with the best child development experts in their class.

“We imagine Tentang Anak to be the leading and trusted one-stop platform for all the needs of parents in Indonesia. We have seen high engagement from our growing community of parents who value content and the trusted community we have built, and we believe that our community can benefit more from a full service ecosystem around childcare," said Mesty in an official statement, Tuesday (8/2).

Application Tentang Anak currently provides holistic services in the form of personalized child stimulation activities, nutritional menus, growth trackers, free consultations, and community involvement for Indonesian parents in all matters of child development, especially for children aged 0 to 5 years. This app features highly curated information from a network of pediatricians, psychologists, child educators, financial planner, and obgyn.

Tentang Anak has also amassed more than half a million social media followers on various platforms and is the number 1 most-followed TikTok parenting account in Indonesia. Claimed application Tentang Anak within two months after its release, it was able to occupy the 3rd position in the App Store for the Education category and 4th in the Play Store for the Parenting category.

Tentang Anak committed to providing access to knowledge parenting from the best-in-class experts and the best products for 80 million children in Indonesia, so that Indonesia's future generations can achieve optimal growth and development potential even from an early age. Tentang Anak will be adding more verticals, aiming to provide a seamless trading journey through its app in the coming months.

Separately, in a press conference held last week (11/2), Garri continued that social mission Tentang Anak is to provide education for free because that right is absolute in this digital era. Nevertheless, he wanted that Tentang Anak being a sustainable company and owning a business. He and the team are currently exploring the next strategy and are open to any input from users.

So far, the monetization has been done Tentang Anak is by launching physical books for children that are sold through e-commerce platforms. Mesty admitted that the children's books being sold today are adaptations of books abroad, so they are less localized.

"From what we see, there are no books for children according to their respective phases. This is part of our dream in providing access to the best products for parents," said Mesty.

Founding Managing Partner Insignia Ventures Yinglan Tan emphasized the key role of trust in building a strong ecosystem for childcare. He said, in Southeast Asia's internet economy, he realized the potential of platforms and vertical communities around the specific needs of consumers.

"Parenting is one of the areas where we see the value of the vertical platform, and we see Tentang Anak a strong foundation of trust that is important to be parenting platforms leading in Indonesia. These startups come from the founders' strong, complementary and relevant backgrounds in pediatrics and product growth, their network of respected professionals in key areas of parenting, and their growing team of unicorn alumni who have experience in enhancing consumer-focused ecosystems. this," said Tan.

Apart from being the first pediatrician to establish parenting startups, Tentang Anak also recently welcomed the arrival of the current President of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), Piprim Basarah Yanuarso, and former IPS President Hardiono D. Pusponegoro on the advisory board.

“I am very proud to be part of the team Tentang Anak as an advisory board to create parent education which is better for Indonesian parents. In realizing this, it takes a lot of cooperation from various parties, both the government, the private sector, and even individuals to ensure that our next generation can grow optimally in the midst of an uncertain situation like today.” said Hardiono D. Pusponegoro.

“I really appreciate what was built on Tentang Anak, to present a good parenting style and in accordance with the recommendations of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association." added Piprim Basarah Yanuarso.

Previously, a number of applications targeting the family segment had also appeared, including: Do for me, Orami for service E-commerce (acquired by Sirclo), also media channel Popmama from IDN Media.

*) We added information about angel investors and an explanation of the monetization strategy