Niche Market Holding Its Own: CafeMom
March 19, 2008 |
With all of the attention on the big names like FaceBook , MySpace , Google and Yahoo lately, niche markets that are doing well keep getting overlooked. One such niche market is CafeMom . This social network aimed at the tech savvy moms online has been gathering momentum since 2006.
CafeMom claims that it is up to nearly 150 million page views each month. They have enough mothers using their service to have attracted companies as big as Johnson and Johnson, Disney and Wal-Mart to their advertising ranks. Today they cemented their worth as a viable niche network by securing an additional $12 million USD in funding.
Prior to receiving the $12 million dollar reinvestment from Highland Capital Partners and Draper Fish Jurvetson, CafeMom had raised a total of $55 million in funding – $50 million in seed capital and a $5 million boost last Fall. That a strong financial history for such a focused network.
Moms are an especially viable group to go after as a core network base. Often too busy to learn and use broader networks like FaceBook and Myspace (who has time to weed out the cam whore set and avoid the Tila Tequilas out there when they are chasing toddlers and holding down a job?), moms still want the connection of a social network of their peers.
Its also a great network for advertising dollars. Mothers have huge spending clout, often being responsible for the bulk of family financial decisions. Not only that, moms talk. If your product is a success with one mother, she is guaranteed to tell her friends (of course, the flip side of that is the same is true if they dislike a product). The combination of the two makes them a powerful niche to cater to and well worth the cash infusion.
