Dubai-based Mazkara FZ LLC, which runs salon and spa discovery platform Fabogo, has raised $2.25 million (Rs 14.5 crore) in its third round of funding, a top executive told VCCircle.
Fabogo secured the fresh capital from Dubai-based existing investor Dunamis Ventures Pte Ltd, co-founder Prasanjeet Roy said.
The early-stage investor had previously invested $1 million in seed funding in Fabogo in January last year and $500,000 in angel funding in May 2015.
Roy said the company will use 40% of the amount raised to strengthen its technology and an equal sum to acquire users. The remaining amount will be used for geographical expansion.
“Our focus this time is technology because we’re entering into the transaction game,†he said.
Fabogo was set up in March 2015 by Roy and Mohammad Ali Akmal. It launched operations in Dubai in May 2015. It entered Pune in August 2015 and Mumbai in January this year.
The company enables customers to discover local salons and spas, and allows them to call and book appointments through its platform. According to Roy, it has a 55% repeat user rate.
The company claims to have 3,30,000 monthly visitors, divided equally between Dubai and India. It claims the number of users is growing 20% month-on-month.
The startup also says that it has broken even in Dubai and is looking to break even in Mumbai and Pune by November this year.
“We aim to become the market leaders in our existing cities by March next year. For that, we aim to grow at about 25,000 user downloads month-on-month,†said Roy. He added that the company expects at least 5-7% of the users that come on the platform to book and transact from the app.
Fabogo operates in a segment which is highly fragmented and dominated by local service providers. Besides, a number of online on-demand beauty services startups have come up in the segment over the past year. Horizontal home services startups such as Housejoy and UrbanClap and deals and discounts site Nearbuy, earlier known as Groupon India, also offer similar services.
In the salon aggregation segment, Gingerpan Swapcart Pvt. Ltd-owned online aggregator of branded parlours, Be U Salons, had raised $600,000 in a seed round led by Gaurav Kachru of 5ideas Superfuel Fund in April.
Delhi-based Glam Studios had secured angel funding of Rs 2 crore in September last year.
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