Salon management software startup Glamplus raises $700k in a Pre-Series A round from Blume Ventures, Ramakant Sharma (COO- Livspace) and participation from existing investors IPV. The funds raised will be utilised in vertical tech SAAS capabilities along with the expansion of the B2B marketplace business to scale to 10,000 partners and monthly revenues of Rs 5 crore by Mar '22, said the company.
Glamplus has created a salon CRM for managing customers, ERP for managing staff as well as enabled B2B marketplace compounded on the SAAS platform parallelly allowing to run any type of promotional offers/communication with D2C audience.
Anirvan Chowdhury (Vice President, Investments – Blume Ventures) shares “When we met the team around a year back they had only a concept and in the past year they've not only built out a solid product but also in the 6 months since launch, they've been able to drive phenomenal growth while maintaining very strong retention numbers! 4000+ salons with 25 lakhs monthly SaaS revenue and 3 crore monthly marketplace GMV in 6 months with a +ve CM1 is no mean feat, and we are super excited to be part of this journey.”
Glamplus has an AI based CRM platform, which enables salon/spa owners to manage their operations and services end to end through an online web or android mobile app. This has helped them improve the overall salon experience for their customers and staff. Platform also allows to premiumize the salon owner's offering via B2B2C interaction to the end customer and also integrates scheduling appointments, generating digital invoices, offer promotional offers through Bulk SMS/Whatsapp & loyalty schemes for customers.
Mitesh Shah, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “With the rise in disposable income and more women joining the workforce in tier 1cities, beauty and wellness services have witnessed an upsurge. People are now more conscious about their appearance and are willing to spend. To cater to this rising need more efficiently, Glamplus has created an end-to-end B2B2C solution for salons, spas and gyms which will help them to run their operations smoothly. Since January 2021, the company has successfully tied up with 4000 partners and plans to grow faster in the coming year. The fast-paced growth trajectory clearly shows the need for this solution in the emerging market and IPV looks forward to extending their support in their journey.”
Divyanshu Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, Glamplus says, “Salon/Spa beauty industry is highly fragmented despite the presence of more than million-plus salons in the country. We were clearly determined and destined to solve for this highly underserved SMB market and creating a moat around it by going vertically deep, has also been recognized by our marquee investors. New Funds will be utilised in enhancing tech capabilities, going deep in the marketplace segment and driving growth along with efficiency. Our solution will create a complete digital ecosystem for salons and spas and help transform their lives.”
Glamplus said it has scaled to 4000 paying partners in less than 8 months across 6 cities- Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Pune. Glamplus has grown from a team of 3 individuals to 40+members in less than 6 months.
With the rise in awareness about holistic wellbeing, spending on beauty and wellness products and services has increased. According to the Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA), the beauty and wellness market in India is expected to reach Rs 2,463.49 billion by 2024, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of ~18.40 per cent during the 2019-2024 period. India caters to more than 1 million registered with 30% over and above unregistered.
Glamplus aims to move the $200 billion SMB-dominated offline economy to a well data-driven engagement platform followed by a curated beauty order marketplace on the SAAS platform, said the company.
