UK-based hair and beauty marketplace Wahanda has raised a €65m ($73m) series E round from human resources firm Recruit Holdings, TechCrunch reported earlier today.
Founded in 2008, Wahanda enables consumers to book an appointment at a beauty salon or spa. Concurrent with the new funding, Wahanda revealed it will acquire its France-based counterpart ZenSoon, adding 650 salons to its network and boosting the total to 20,000.
Recruit became Wahanda’s sole external shareholder when it invested a $46m series D round in May 2015 and bought out all remaining investors for $117m. Recruit holds an 80% stake, though Wahanda continues to operate independently.
Wahanda previously received $26m for a series C round in October 2014 from Fidelity Growth Partners Europe, a venture capital division of financial conglomerate Fidelity Investments, merchant bank Lepe Partners and Recruit
Fidelity also provided a $5.5m series B round in 2011. In 2008, investment firm Ambient Sound Investments led a $2m series A round including 14W and angel investors.
Wahanda currently focuses on Europe, but plans to expand into the US in the future.