StyleSeat, which helps independent hair stylists, manicurists, and masseuses schedule clients and manage their business, is buying rival booking startup BeautyBooked. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal expands StyleSeat beyond its roots with independent hair and makeup stylists to more established salons. BeautyBooked focuses on providing booking software for 1,000 salon and spas, including in New York City and Los Angeles, similar to the way OpenTable powers reservations for restaurants.
In fact, Melody McCloskey, StyleSeat’s co-founder along with Dan Levine, said her goal is for StyleSeat to become an OpenTable for the entire beauty industry.
StyleSeat, which has raised $40 million in funding, said that it booked 23 million appointments, worth $1.1 billion in services, in 2015, up from $450 million in 2014. The company makes money by charging professionals a fee for extra services such as marketing, email reminders for customers, customer support, and payments.
More than 350,000 beauty professionals in over 16,000 cities use the platform today.
But there still room for a newly combined StyleSeat and BeautyBooked to grow even further. According to the Professional Beauty Association, there are more than 1.1 million salons and spas.
