StayGlad, a mobile marketplace for on-demand beauty services, has raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Silicon Valley-based VC firm Bessemer Venture Partners.
Anil Chopra, former CEO of Lakme Lever, also invested in this round, StayGlad said in a press statement.
The startup, run by Bengaluru-based Glow Prime Technologies Pvt Ltd, will use the money raised to expand operations and strengthen its technology backend.
“Demand for beauty services is at an inflection point in India. Add to this the convenience of the service being delivered at home and it creates a large market opportunity. The category is synonymous with high order values, high gross margins and predictable customer repeat behaviour,†said Raghav Bahl, vice president of Bessemer.
StayGlad is an online platform that enables users to get salon and styling services at their doorsteps. StayGlad assists in finding trained and certified beauty service professionals that use standard styling procedures.
StayGlad had received an undisclosed amount of angel investment from Tracxn Labs, Delhivery co-founder Sahil Barua and other investors in June.
The startup was founded early this year by IIT Kharagpur alumni Prateek Jain, Shashank Gupta and Kavish Desai. The co-founders have worked in companies such as Adobe, Amazon, Urban Touch, Heinz India and Flipkart.
Chopra says that India’s beauty services industry is growing at about 20 per cent every year.
“Scaling a home salon service requires a completely different DNA and the team led by Prateek has shown a lot of promise. The online factor and convenience of having these services at home will be a big game changer for the industry and customers,†he added.
StayGlad competes with the likes of GetLook, YLG Salon and Spa, Vyomo, Belita and VanityCube. Belita had raised $375,000 (Rs 2.5 crore) in angel funding through LetsVenture and Lead Angels in August.
GetLook too secured angel funding in August. Bangalore-based beauty and wellness platform Vyomo is backed by YouWeCan Ventures and TaxiForSure co-founder Aprameya Radhakrishna.
With over $4 billion in assets under management, Bessemer provides seed, early, expansion, growth and late stage capital to companies across the world.
As per VCCEdge, Bessemer has positions in over 40 Indian firms. It has stakes in Ola, Snapdeal and other top technology ventures.
In September, the VC firm put Rs 7.9 crore ($1.2 million) in CanvasFlip Solutions Pvt Ltd, a firm that offers a prototyping and testing suite for mobile apps.
