Founder of WAH Nails Sharmadean Reid has raised $1m in Seed funding for an app that helps beauty professionals connect with customers.
Called beautystack, the platform is invitation only and allows people who work in beauty to manage or take bookings and showcase their work. Clients can then search this content to find their ideal treatments by the right people.
beautystack received the backing of early angel investors including LocalGlobe, Mark Sebba, David Rowan and Julien Codorniou.
Reid and her co-founders Dan Woodbury and Ken Lalobo will use the cash to continue developing the platform and launch a mobile app this Summer.
For now, the platform is available in its beta version. Early users are currently able to build their own site or blog, upload their work and take bookings directly from social media image posts. Customers can then book with a professional through images of the finished treatment.
Reid said her platform is filling a necessary gap in a market that is pegged to be worth $445bn in 2018: “There is a new market of millennial beauty professionals who use social media to build their client base and solicit enquiries via DM. By using beautystack these professionals will be able to close the loop on bookings from content.
“The gig economy has always been a mainstay of beauty, but there are few platforms set up to serve individual practitioners, with their specialist skills and treatments, well,” she added.
Reid went on to say the beautystack app will move the traditional diary-based appointment booking system into a social and networked activity.
Beauty pros will join the app by invitation initially and will pay a small booking fee for each treatment with a monthly subscription for pros who want web hosting, customisation and partner integrations. The image-based platform will monetise through partnerships with brands.
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