DUBLIN — Vagaro, a cloud-based business management platform for beauty, fitness and wellness businesses, has raised a new round of funding led by FTV Capital. Vagaro wouldn’t reveal the exact terms of the investment but said it values the company at $1 billion.
With the investment from FTV Capital, Vagaro plans to focus on continued development of tools for businesses to book appointments, manage inventory, collect rent, run payroll and more, in order to be a one-stop-shop for a business’ IT needs. Vagaro recently added credit card processing features in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom and has focused its efforts on growing market share in those countries, as well as the United States. Vagaro plans to serve additional international markets in 2022.
Vagaro has helped its clients’ sales grow more than 105% in the last year, while on average, clients are selling almost 15% more as compared to pre-COVID. Compared to other solutions on the market, Vagaro customers consistently say that they enjoy the depth of features, ease of use and lower cost. Vagaro’s a la carte pricing model allows the product to be affordable to businesses of all sizes, and its robust set of tools enables smaller businesses to operate as efficiently and professionally as much larger corporations.
“We are thrilled with Vagaro’s success over the last three years, as the company has continued to capture market share by putting customers first and delivering innovative, affordable products that help business owners foster sustainable growth,” said Robert Anderson, partner at FTV Capital. “Fred and his team have done an outstanding job of executing on their vision, and with enormous potential to serve the $10.5 billion health and wellness market still ahead, we are excited to continue working together as we begin this important next phase of growth.”
FTV Capital was particularly impressed by how Vagaro navigated the pandemic, which posed an existential threat to its customers. By putting its customers first, Vagaro not only survived but added a record number of new customers during this period. Vagaro was able to pivot from helping businesses like fitness studios book in-person classes to enabling them to livestream more than 313,000 classes – a critical new revenue stream at a time when customers were not able to visit in person.
“For over a decade, in response to the shift away from paper books to online booking, Vagaro has been serving small businesses and independent service professionals with our technology solutions to help them achieve their business operations goals in an efficient manner,” said Fred Helou, founder and CEO of Vagaro. “This was especially true in 2020, as our platform played a major role in the health and safety of our customers during the Covid-19 pandemic where we were able to provide a function that managed health and safety documentation, as well as several other features that allowed them to do business safely.”
“FTV continues to be a value-added partner, bringing significant expertise, commercial introductions and operational support to the table. As such, they were the only financial sponsor we considered for this round,” said Helou. “We are very proud to reach the unicorn status. FTV’s support will help us continue our mission to be an all-in-one solution for small businesses in the beauty, fitness and wellness industries. We’re excited for every business in these industries to have a chance to experience our best-in-class product and customer service.”
