Yaolan.com

About Yaolan.com

Established in 1999, Yaolan.com operates as a foundational Chinese-language online parenting portal, delivering information, community, and educational services tailored for expectant mothers and parents of children aged 0-6 in China. The platform was founded by Matthew J. Estes, who also established BabyCare Ltd., a provider of nutritional supplements. In 2006, with the company facing challenges, Gao Xiang, formerly a Vice President at Dangdang and with experience at Microsoft, took the helm as CEO. He strategically pivoted the company to focus on online education as its core business, believing this would create a higher competitive barrier than a purely media or e-commerce model.

Yaolan.com's business model is twofold, generating revenue from online advertising and paid educational products. The primary offering is an extensive online platform that provides a wealth of expert-vetted parenting knowledge, community forums for peer-to-peer experience sharing, and interactive tools. To monetize its educational focus, Yaolan launched a personalized multimedia parenting education system, charging VIP users a subscription fee for tailored learning packages based on online skill tests for their children. A key product, "Genius Mom Training Class," became a core offering, and the platform developed systems like "Growth Ladder," an online tool for assessing infant and toddler development. In a move to blend online and offline experiences, the company also explored partnerships for physical early education centers and later launched "Yaolan Parent-Child Shared Community" stores to enter the new retail space.

The company secured significant venture capital, raising a total of $26.1 million over several rounds, with a notable Series C round of $17.1 million in March 2008 from investors including Sutter Hill Ventures and Foundation Capital. This funding was crucial for developing its proprietary educational content and systems. Over the years, the company appointed new leadership, including Yang Guo as CEO around 2015. Reports from 2018 indicated that Yaolan.com was acquired by BBunion, a Hong Kong-based early education brand, in July 2017.