Shedul.com, the world’s most popular booking platform for salons and spas, announced today an investment of $5 million, led by Target Global, an international VC firm headquartered in Berlin, with backing from New York-based FJ Labs. Investors personally joining the fundraiser included founders of two successful startups; Niklas Östberg, Founder and CEO of Delivery Hero AG, and Hakan Koç, Co-Founder, and Co-CEO of AUTO1 Group. The new funding brings the total amount raised by the company to over $11 million to date as the company prepares for an upcoming Series B round.
Launched in 2015, Shedul.com (pronounced like the British schedule) streamlines business operations for salons and spas with intuitive, free-to-use software. In just three years, Shedul.com has quietly acquired a vast user base of merchants in more than 120 countries, primarily in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. The platform takes the hassle out of running a business by managing appointment bookings, point-of-sale, customer records, inventory and financial reporting.
Recently Shedul.com was crowned the industry’s most popular, most affordable and most user friendly software for 2018 by Gartner Inc’s user rating service. It is also the world’s fastest growing platform for salons and spas with over 6 million appointments booked each month, growing at an average rate of 20% month-on-month. The platform is on track to process $3.5 billion worth of appointment bookings by the end of 2018.
“We’re thrilled to have first-rate partners join our growth story, bringing their experience and networks to our rapidly expanding business” said Co-Founder and CEO William Zeqiri, commenting on the new fundraise. “We are modernizing the beauty and wellness industry at the same transformative scale seen in other spaces like food ordering and local transportation. The massive opportunity is clear, by bringing thousands of pen-and-paper based businesses on our platform, we’re enabling a whole segment of businesses to connect with consumers online.”
“We have been impressed by founders and the product right from the start. Shedul has remarkably shown how a small company with very little VC funding can build the best product in the category, grow very fast and service millions of people every month”, says Shmuel Chafets, General Partner at Target Global. “We strongly believe that they can build the leader in a global trillion dollar market – one of our key investment thesis at Target Global.”
In addition to the investment, the company also announced the launch of its consumer marketplace, Fresha.com, for everyday customers to book appointments at their favorite salons and spas. Currently in the initial rollout phase, the new offering provides mobile apps for customers and real-time booking integrations through Instagram, Facebook and Google along with in-app payment processing, allowing for the most seamless online booking experience for consumers.
“The launch of Fresha.com is a triumph for people who want to look and feel their best” said Nick Miller, the company’s Co-Founder and Chief of Product. “It is the easiest, most reliable way to book with salons and spas, and is a milestone in our mission to bring local businesses closer to their customers.”
The company intends to use the investment to supercharge product development and support the marketplace rollout. “We’re incorporating intelligent features on our marketplace to help merchants grow revenues” explained Zeqiri. “For example, smartly displaying price and availability options, based on the customer’s purchase history and the merchant’s projected occupancy. This frees up merchants to do what they do best and spend more face time with customers.”
For more information, visit Shedul.com Fresha.com or download Fresha on the App Store and Google Play. Follow Shedul on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Crunchbase.
