Venture capitalists bet on baby boom startups

Venture capitalists are now betting that the Chinese Communist Party’s decision to repeal its decades-old one-child policy will create more demand for digital services related to pregnancy and childcare, Bloomberg reports. The policy change announced last year has piqued investor interest and led to 10 fundraising rounds in the first half for startups in the maternity and pediatric market, according to VC Beat Research. Chinese consumers are avid users of digital apps for everything from banking to health care, and that demand has spawned a vast industry. China has 450 million mobile devices for which 7,350 Chinese companies have developed over 33,000 mobile apps. Use of health and fitness apps grew by nearly 130% in the past year.