Singapore-based Supermom helps parenting brands navigate a post-cookie world

Supermom, a parenting platform with 20 million users in six Southeast Asian countries, offers parents price comparisons, communities and the opportunity to earn money by answering surveys. For brands, it gives them a way to conduct market research and collect first-party data, which is important as marketers prepare for a post-cookie world.

The Singapore-based startup today announced that it has raised an oversubscribed SGD$8 million (approximately US$6 million) Series A led by Qualgro, with participation from AC Ventures. Supermom currently has a presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand, with plans to expand into other markets. Over 200 consumer brands use Supermom for their marketing research, including Kimberly Clark, Procter & Gamble and Philips.

Supermom was founded by Joan Ong, Luke Lim, Lynn Yeoh and Rebecca Koh, and started in 2013 as a platform for community groups and in-person events. "Motherhood is a pretty lonely journey and I wanted to support other parents," Ong said. The next five years focused on Singapore. Then, in 2019, the Supermom team decided to expand throughout Southeast Asia. So she shifted her focus from community events to digital marketing.

Supermom's market research platform for businesses allows brands to conduct market testing with highly targeted groups of people. Its backend tracks parents' demographics in its database, including aggregated data on their children's ages, occupations, and interests. In addition to writing reviews or participating in surveys, parents can apply to become brand ambassadors through Supermom. When they do, brands can see their number of social media followers and the groups they belong to.

Qualgro partners Jeremy Soh and Neo WeiSheng, with Supermom founders Rebecca Koh, Joan Ong, Lynn Yeoh and Luke Lim

Lim says quantitative surveys of around 1,000 people typically take months to set up, but can be done in an hour with Supermom. Surveys can be launched simultaneously in six countries, with specific users invited to participate. To set up a survey, brands select a country and then filter specific demographics such as children's ages. Supermom's platform also guides them through the question writing process.

In addition to their own surveys, brands also get information such as brand indexing or a ranking of the brands consumers trust the most. This data can be broken down by demographic group. For example, researchers can see if a brand is used by 50% of mothers over the age of 30 and then narrow them down based on disposable income level.

Supermom will use its new funding for its data and product capabilities, and its expansion into Southeast Asia.

"As businesses all move towards a cookie-free world, having direct access to consumers is very, very important," Ong said. “Because they can no longer do retargeting and use cookies to target consumers. So, with the millions of users we have, we're helping many brands get that critical first-party data so they can really tap into their target audience."

In a statement on the funding, Qualgro's general partner, Weisheng Neo, said, "We recognize the current lack of brand access to trusted and secure data about parents, an important customer segment and Brands will find the Supermom platform a wealth of information and first-party data activation."