This former science teacher and stay-at-home mom just raised $4.7M in funding for Glowday, UK’s first marketplace that connects consumers with medically-qualified non-surgical cosmetic practitioners
• Female founder of Glowday secures $4.7 million (£3.8 million) investment deal
• SaaS enabled marketplace for non-surgical cosmetic treatments to launch when lock-down ends
• Demand expected to boom post COVID
• Will support client safety and consumer confidence in unregulated market
• Connects new clients with clinics reducing clinics’ marketing spend and improving efficiency
Glowday is UK’s first marketplace that connects consumers with medically-qualified non-surgical cosmetic practitioners, for treatments such as Botox and fillers. Aiming to capitalize on the £3 billion UK non-surgical aesthetics market, Glowday announced it has secured $4.7 million (£3.8 million) in new seed funding to expand to the rapidly growing $40 billion global market. Along with her husband, Joby Russell, who as Chief Marketing Officer helped take Purplebricks from startup to IPO, they have signed a deal with private investment business Horatio Investments.
In an email to Tech Startups, Glowday founder Hannah Russell, who was previously a Science teacher and stay-at-home mom, said: “Being relatively new to the startup world, I’m really proud to have secured investment during a global pandemic.”
Glowday will be the first marketplace for consumers to find only medically qualified non-surgical aesthetics practitioners. According to the founder, only verified medically-qualified practitioners (Doctors, dentists, nurses) will be able to list on Glowday. Customers can find local clinics, review practitioner’s treatments, read verified reviews, compare before-and-after photos and book online 24/7.
Practitioners who partner with Glowday will have 30 free days commission- free. Following this there will be a commission structure of 30% on treatments completed with new clients, and 2% on treatments booked through Glowday from existing clients
“Glowday is a tech-driven business for a booming market which is still very much off-line. This will be more important post COVID where practitioners will need as many aspects of their business as possible to be digitised and automated, to enable them to treat more clients. This investment means we’ll be ready to hit the ground running – clinics have huge waiting lists for when their doors reopen,” Hannah said.
Glowday has already completed the first phase of its development with over 150 doctors, nurses and dentists partnering with it. The next phase will see the platform launch to consumers, supported by a UK-wide marketing campaign, including TV advertising.
Hannah continues: “The market is wildly fragmented with thousands of practitioners delivering a mix of quality, service and price yet non-surgical treatments are increasingly seen as a normal part of beauty regimes. We created Glowday so consumers can research and book non-surgical aesthetic treatments in absolute confidence with the best practitioners, providing reassurance in an unregulated industry.”