VILNIUS, LITHUANIA / ACCESSWIRE / August 18, 2021 / With its progressive agenda and rebellious attitude, Watalook is not your typical SaaS: the young startup is striving to redefine the beauty tech market with its digital assistant for independent beauty professionals across the U.S. It has recently raised $1M in the pre-seed round co-led by Startup Wise Guys, Crosspring, Launchpad Capital, and angel investors.
Today's U.S. beauty services market is worth $66B and employs over 706k beauty professionals, of which 70% work as independent contractors as compared to only 20% in the year 2011. That's around half a million beauticians that need to be proficient in client acquisition and retention techniques, digital marketing campaigns, portfolio building, beauty blogging, and a 24/7 secretary to book appointments and send reminders to clients - and all that is in addition to a 12-14h workday, pampering their beautiful clients. Is there any life after work then? Generation Z definitely wants one.
Watalook is the app every independent beauty professional dreamed about (82+ thousand beauty appointments worth $3M within a year since the launch can't be wrong). It provides a platform for 24/7 online client self-booking, smart calendar that fills in the free time gaps first, sends automated text message updates and reminders for appointments, collects client data and provides insights like revenue, appointments frequency, cancellations or no-shows, etc,- all of that has been designed with a mission to take off time and energy-consuming processes of beauty rockstars' shoulders so they can focus on what they do best - beauty services.
"The data shows that the number of beauty professionals trusting Watalook digital assistant to manage their beauty businesses grows by leaps and bounds. We see a steady >30% month over month growth in the number of beauticians using Watalook, and consequently growing appointments booked through the platform by +34%" shares the CEO and co-founder Klaudijus Ambrozas. "This success couldn't be achieved with a merely good product, culture is what makes it vanguard and resonates with GenZ's approach to life and digital nativeness".
"Working with young beauticians' generation we see that more than anything else, they seek financial health, recognition, close relationships, and a chance to become the voice that matters, thus big chunk of the $1M investment will be dedicated to personalized beauticians' digital marketing campaigns that will not only help to expand each US beauty rockstar's clientele and generate more revenue, but will also make their voice louder and relationships with their clients - stronger." adds the CXO and co-founder Justas Vitenas.
This is the first-of-a-kind offering in the beauty services industry, and it will revolutionize the way a hairstylist, nail technician, or makeup artist's profession is perceived.
"We have seen remarkable growth of the company since we did our first investment almost a year ago. And these numbers prove to the public what we see firsthand - the team behind Watalook knows the market in and out, completely feels the vibe of Gen Z clients, and have the tools, knowledge, and guts to reach it. Excited to be part of this would be an understatement." says Jone Vaituleviciute, Partner at Startup Wise Guys.
"Watalook has the right team and product to transform the beauty industry. We believe that beauticians should have full control of their hard-earned money and the data tied to it." says Ryan Gilbert, Founder of Launchpad Capital. Watalook is the second European startup that has received an investment from Launchpad Capital for an expansion to the US.
Launched in April 2020, Watalook has already outlasted two nationwide lockdowns that paradoxically only fueled the company's growth - year to date number of beauty rockstars using Watalook digital assistant has already outperformed 2020 by +317%, and the majority of this surge has been achieved organically.
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About Watalook
Watalook is a Lithuanian-based beauty tech startup, designed to empower and help independent beauty professionals grow and manage their beauty businesses more efficiently, build stronger relationships with their clients, and become a voice that matters. Watalook provides a platform for 24/7 online client self-booking, a smart calendar, and automated text reminders for appointments, collects client and appointment data, provides insights, and saves up to 22 hours per month for each beauty rockstar. The best part? All client data belongs to a beautician, not a beauty salon, wherever or whenever the beauty professional chooses to rock.
Contact:
Laura K. Inamedinova
PR Representative from LKI Consulting
[email protected]
Klaudijus Ambrozas
Co-Founder & CEO of Watalook
[email protected]
About Startup Wise Guys
Startup Wise Guys is one of the most active pre-seed funds and B2B startup accelerators in Europe. Founded in Tallinn in 2012, to date SWG has invested in 235 companies and helped more than 500 founders bring their startups to the next level. SWG has seen four major exits and achieved an overall startup survival and success rate above 77%. With a significant additional presence in the Nordics, Poland, Ukraine, the Balkans, and a recently launched program for Africa SWG aims to become the go-to accelerator program for any B2B startup looking to scale globally out of Europe.
About Launchpad Capital
Launchpad Capital is a new incubation, pre-seed, and seed venture capital firm, led by a long-time San Francisco-based fintech investor and entrepreneur Ryan Gilbert. With a new $35 million fund, Launchpad Capital is currently focused on supporting early-stage Baltic fintech startups targeting North America and it's aiming to become one of the most active VCs in the Baltic region.
About Crosspring
Crosspring is a European early-stage investor with a portfolio in Eastern Europe, the Baltics, Scandinavia and Benelux. Our focus is to help early-stage entrepreneurs from early traction to international growth. In its 15+ year history Crosspring built a current portfolio of 30+ companies in Fintech, B2B Saas Solutions, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Cyber Security, Crypto and Blockchain.
SOURCE: Watalook