Planity, the French software-as-a-service enabled marketplace for beauty salons, has secured €30m in series B funding from Gaia Capital Partners, who join existing investors Alven Bpifrance, Crédit Mutuel Innovation and Eiffel Investment Group.
Planity, the brainchild of Antoine Puymirat, Jérémy Queroy and Paul Vonderscher, is the salon equivalent of hospitality site booking.com, boasting a suite of offerings allowing consumers to discover, book and pay for beauty and wellness appointments via its marketplace.
Salons, meanwhile, can leverage Planity to manage their operations via its end-to-end SaaS solution.
The team has announced aspirations to leverage Planity's leadership position in France to conquer new markets, starting with Germany, and to expand to adjacent verticals.
Gaia Capital Partners, meanwhile, said it was "proud to back a solution that provides modern tools to people who have been neglected by technology over the last decade”.
While the European hair and beauty market is worth more than €100bn, the availability of online booking in the beauty sector remains very low versus what is found in other industries; today, said Gaia, only 13% of beauty salons have an online booking system.
Planity, however, believes the market will be more than 60% equipped within five years.