Spa, salon SaaS provider Zenoti turns unicorn with $160 mn fundraise

Homegrown company Soham, which provides cloud-based software solution Zenoti to salon and spa chains, on Tuesday said it has closed a $160 million growth funding round from a new investor and returning investors.

The funding propelled the Bellevue headquartered company’s valuation to beyond $1 billion, giving it an unicorn status, as per a statement.

The latest investor to join the 10-year-old company’s capitalisation table is Boston-based global private equity firm Advent International through affiliates Advent Tech and Sunley House Capital. The investment marks Advent’s seventh growth equity investment in 2020 -- the firm also acquired Olaplex, a professional hair care brand, recently. 

Returning investors that participated in the round include Tiger Global and Steadview Partners. 

With the fresh capital, the startup plans to scale its operations, research and development, and innovation in artificial intelligence, as well as boost its merger and acquisitions strategy, the statement said.

The AI innovations include algorithms leveraging Zenoti's enterprise system data to optimize customer employee scheduling, inventory management, marketing and dynamic pricing to enhance profitability and efficiency. 

Since its inception in 2010, the company has raised a total of about $250 million. 

The company, which moved its headquarters to the United States from India in 2014, currently operates nine offices with 550 employees and services over 12,000 brands globally. About 80% of its workforce is based in India.

“The wellness industry is ripe for disruption, particularly as Covid-19 has made it more important than ever to eliminate unnecessary face-to-face interactions wherever possible. We are seeing businesses embrace Zenoti’s technology to help pivot and strengthen their offering,” Eric Wei, a managing director on Advent’s technology team in Palo Alto, said.

The company claims to have grown 100% year-over-year in 2020, in revenue terms.

“Our industry, one traditionally slow to progress technologically, is passionately embracing it in the wake of Covid-19 in order to seamlessly and safely connect with customers,” Zenoti co-founder and CEO Sudheer Koneru said.

Serial entrepreneur Koneru shares a space in the co-founding team with his brother Dheeraj Koneru, who leads the company’s sales division.

Zenoti’s roster of clients include global brands such as European Wax Center, Hand & Stone, Massage Heights, Rush Hair & Beauty, Sono Bello, Hair Cuttery, Profile by Sanford and Toni&Guy.