Rocket Internet’s salon-booking app gets funding to pivot to SE Asia

In the past couple of years, there has been a tumult of changes at Rocket Internet’s Vaniday, a site for booking appointments at salons and spas. There’s a new CEO, new tech, and new ways of generating revenue.

Originally operating in Singapore, Australia, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Brazil, the startup has gradually closed down everywhere except Singapore.

“That was a change in focus from the investor board, to focus – to be very, very laser-focused – on Southeast Asia,” current Vaniday CEO Saurabh Chauhan tells Tech in Asia.

Photo credit: Kris Atomic / Unsplash

“Singapore is the market we’re looking at this point, but we plan to expand to one to two more markets by the end of this year or early next year,” he adds. Thailand and Indonesia are the top candidates.

Vaniday has just secured fresh funding for this new strategy – its first since shortly after launch in 2015. And it plans to raise more toward the end of the year ahead of launching in new markets.

While the specific figure isn’t disclosed, the new investment – led by parent firms Rocket Internet and Asia Pacific Internet Group – amounts to seven digits in euros.

‘Chope, but for salons’

Why risk it all on one region?

“We found the growth in Southeast Asia was much more than the growth Vaniday was experiencing in 2016/2017 back in South American and European markets,” explains Delhi-born Chauhan, who’s now based in Singapore.

The app claims to have 100,000 registered users, who use it to book beauty services – from haircuts and hair removal to manicures and massages – at businesses across Singapore. It’s “Chope, but for salons,” says Chauhan, referencing the popular local restaurant-booking app.

Arguably, its closest rival in the city-state is Vanitee. Looking at App Annie’s data today for the app stores, Vaniday is ahead in the popularity stakes:

As Grab and Gojek expand into more services, the greatest threat to Rocket is likely one of the super apps rather than a fresh-faced startup.

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