- Mom social network Peanut announced it raised $5 million in a new round of funding led by Index Ventures
Peanut, a social network for moms, announced it raised $5 million in a new round of funding. This round of funding was led by Index Ventures. And Peanut is also expanding its community to connect women with each other who are trying to conceive.
Including this round of funding, Peanut has raised $9.8 million in funding. And Peanut’s investors include Sweet Capital, Greycroft, Sound Ventures, Female Founders Fund, Felix Capital, and Partech.
Peanut founder + CEO Michelle Kennedy came up with the idea for the company based on her understanding of the challenges associated with women forming friendships after motherhood. Kennedy is the former deputy CEO of Badoo and is an inaugural board member at Bumble.
Originally, Peanut started out as a friendship app with swiping gestures similar to the user interface of Tinder. But the company launched Q&A forums, Peanut Groups, and Peanut Pages over the last couple of years. The Peanut Groups feature has become one of the most popular features.
“Community is definitely becoming a very important part of what we do. It’s where we see the users that we deem to be power users — women who are using Peanut for hours every day — they’re very much within the community section,” explains Kennedy. “We see that growth there and it actually guides the product. So we’re taking the behaviors that we see and letting that inform our roadmap,” said Kennedy via TechCrunch.
Peanut has been growing 20% month-over-month since about a year ago. Users are verified with selfies on Peanut.
With this round of funding, Peanut is planning to grow its team from 16 people to 22 this year. And then the company is also going to double its employee count next year.
Another announcement Peanut made is the addition of the Trying To Conceive (TTC) community. The TTC community has a separate sign-up experience where members can discuss topics and ask questions. TTC users can also set up their own groups.
“We want to shine a light on an often silent struggle. What has always been Peanut’s point of difference is enabling conversations women feel unable to have on any other platform. Providing a safe, inclusive space for women to discuss fertility is a natural progression for our brand as we continue to support women throughout each life stage. No woman should ever feel lonely, isolated or muted on such an important issue,” Kennedy added.
Peanut does not generate revenue from ads. Instead, it is planning to monetize from a freemium model and features that can be unlocked with micropayments.
“We’re incredibly excited to partner with Michelle to grow Peanut from the essential platform for mothers it is today, to a social network for women globally. Peanut is a true companion for women, bringing them together when they need each other the most,” stated Hannah Seal, principal at Index Ventures. “We’ve been impressed with the response Peanut has received since launch and look forward to supporting the team as it enters into new areas such as fertility, and expands globally.”
