Survival of the prettiest: Malaysian beauty marketplace Bfab gets a makeover

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Photo credit: luckybusiness / 123RF

For many – perhaps most – entrepreneurs, there comes a time when they have to admit to themselves: “This isn’t working.”

Their vision didn’t turn out the way they thought it would, or their startup is heading in the wrong direction. Maybe the niche they saw in the marketplace didn’t really need to be filled, or perhaps people just didn’t really care as much about their product as they did.

At such an inflection point, many founders will have to make the tough decision of wrapping up their business and moving on to the next idea.

But with the right attitude and approach, sometimes there’s still a chance to press the reset button, identify a new niche to fill, and steer a startup back towards success.

That is what has happened to Kuala Lumpur-based Bfab.

Founded by Rocket Internet alumnus Pawel Netreba, the startup launched its online marketplace for the Malaysian capital’s beauty and wellness industry in January 2016.

He had considered entering a variety of verticals using the marketplace model he learned while managing the Malaysian operations of Foodpanda, back when it was still a Rocket Internet company.

Netreba and his co-founders, Sergey Gaydar and Raeesa Sya, settled on beauty and wellness services since they found it to be a particularly fragmented and offline-driven industry, with no dominant player despite an oversupply of service providers. Also, consumers were becoming more accustomed to accessing services online or through mobile apps, suggesting there was potential demand for a beauty and wellness marketplace.

See: This guy used all he learned as a Rocket Internet exec to build his own startup

Brick-and-mortar businesses like hairdressers, nail salons, and spas were invited to list on Bfab’s platform. Customers could then surf the site to find whatever service they require, compare prices, and book an appointment with their chosen merchant.

Bfab experienced several months of decent traction. More than 2,000 salons and beauty professionals signed up to take bookings through its portal by November 2016.

In the same month, Bfab secured a six-figure US dollar amount in funding from Captii Ventures. This came after an earlier six-figure seed raise from Captii, 500 Startups, and KK Fund in late 2015, prior to the platform’s soft launch.

“However, we figured out pretty quickly there’s a limit – a majority of people still prefer to go directly to these guys, using WhatsApp to book, and they didn’t need our booking platform,” Netreba tells Tech in Asia.

Something’s up

Eureka moment

New beginning