Published on July 27, 2021
Following its rapid growth from Luxembourg into Belgium and Switzerland, Salonkee just announced a 6.2 Million Series-A led by Fortino Capital and Newion, to further accelerate its European expansion.
After its initial traction and success in Luxembourg, Salonkee entered Belgium and quickly outgrew all its local competitors in less than two years after its entry, becoming Belgium’s leading online booking platform for hairdresser-, beauty- and wellness appointments. Today, no matter where you are located in Belgium, the closest salon on Salonkee will be no more than 15 minutes away. In most cases, the next salon is even less than 5 minutes away, confirms Tom, Co-Founder and CEO of Salonkee.
In total, there are more than 800.000 salons across Europe and the majority of them are still working on pen and paper or with outdated software solutions. “Our goal is to lead the transition away from those outdated solutions towards market specific, easy to use, all-in-one salon management solutions and empower salon owners all across Europe to better manage and grow their businesses.” says Tom.
Since its inception in 2017 by the 5 luembourgish Co-Founders, (Tom Michels, Andre Stehle, Alexandre J. Claro, Samuel Faber and Gilberto Fernandes), Salonkee has managed more than 5 million appointments across over 1200 salons. Over the next 2 years, the ambition is to grow to over 10.000 partner salons all across Europe.
Salonkee’s ambitions are as international as the composition of its new investors joining the company, which are Fortino Capital from Belgium, Newion from the Netherlands, Verve from Switzerland and some experienced business angels from Germany, making it one of Luxembourg’s most internationally funded startups to date.
“Salonkee addresses the underpenetrated market of beauty salons in continental Europe. In the salon sector, digitalization is only getting started, compared to other sectors like hotels and the medical space where digitalization has already been ongoing for quite some time. We are confident that the timing is right for Salonkee to digitalize salons with its end-to-end value proposition. Together with the management team we look forward to make this growth journey happen.” says Filip Van Innis, Investment Director at Fortino Capital.
“Our experience investing in B2B SaaS companies allowed us to quickly recognize Salonkee’s great potential, considering its traction and fast growth in the past few years, whereby it has become the solution of choice for hair, beauty & wellness salons across Luxembourg, Belgium and Switzerland. We are excited to support the Salonkee team in their journey to become the leading all-in-one salon management platform in Western Europe.” says Mathijs de Wit, Partner at Newion
To achieve its ambitious goals, Salonkee is strongly growing it’s team from 25 to over 100 employees across all departments and looking for talented, like-minded and ambitious people to join its mission.
Expon Capital, which is a proud investor since Salonkee’s seed round, has also significantly invested in this Series-A. “We’ve been working with Salonkee since its early days and we have been very impressed by the ambition, management of the founders as well as their ability to execute, navigate and grow Salonkee even through the most challenging times in the midst of a pandemic”, says Alain Rodermann, Managing Partner at Expon Capital.
LBAN (Luxembourg Business Angel Network) who also an early investors in Salonkee since it’s Seed Round says: “We had the chance to meet Tom and his co-founders already during a pitch in 2017 and we were impressed by their ambition and leadership which you only see in outstanding entrepreneurs. We are delighted to back this round again and continue to support an amazing team and company“.
You can find out more about their job openings here: https://salonkee.recruitee.com
About:
Fortino Capital Partners:
Fortino Capital Partners is a Benelux-focused enterprise software investor with a pan European reach. Fortino Capital invests in both Venture Capital and Growth private equity assets.
With offices in Antwerp and Amsterdam, Fortino Capital’s investment portfolio includes SimplyDelivery, Kaizo, Zaion, Reaqta, Oqton, Teamleader, Insided, MobileXpense, Efficy CRM, Sigma Conso and iObeya among others.
About Expon Capital:
The Digital Tech Fund managed by Expon Capital illustrates Luxembourg’s unwavering commitment to its digital future. As part of the Digital Luxembourg initiative, the seed fund supports ICT startups, strengthening the country’s ecosystem. A joint public-private partnership & truly a communal effort, the fund received contributions from the government, Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI), the University of Luxembourg, SES, Post, Proximus, BIL, Arendt and several successful entrepreneurs from Luxembourg. https://www.Exponcapital.com
About Lban:
Luxembourg is the ideal gateway to the European market for startups. At the core of its ecosystem, the Luxembourg Business Angel Network (LBAN) plays a key role in helping founders to accelerate innovation and close the funding gap at Seed or pre-Series A stage. Business Angels give lifetime support to the startups by providing expert advise and network. LBAN is active in the startup ecosystem since 2011. Currently with over 100 angel members, LBAN invests yearly about 7 million euros into scalable startups of all sectors in Luxembourg and beyond.
