Stayglad
On-demand at-home marketplace for beauty services.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Acquisition | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
StayGlad, legally known as Glow Prime Technologies Pvt Ltd., was an on-demand beauty services marketplace that connected customers with trained and certified beauty professionals for services at home. The company was founded in Bengaluru, India, in May 2015 by three IIT Kharagpur alumni: Prateek Jain, Shashank Gupta, and Kavish Desai, who brought experience from companies like Flipkart, Adobe, and Amazon. The idea originated when co-founder Prateek Jain observed his wife's difficulty in scheduling convenient salon appointments.
The platform allowed users to book a variety of beauty and styling services through its website and mobile app. StayGlad's business model focused on being an asset-light marketplace, connecting freelance beauty professionals with a wider customer base than a traditional salon could reach. The company vetted its professionals, who typically had five to eight years of experience, and provided them with standardized training. For customers, it offered the convenience of at-home services, and for professionals, it provided an opportunity to maximize their skills without the overhead costs of a physical salon. Revenue was generated by taking a commission from the service providers.
StayGlad quickly gained traction, reporting 70% repeat customers and raising an angel funding round in June 2015 from investors including Tracxn Labs and Sahil Barua, co-founder of Delhivery. This was followed by an undisclosed Series A round in November 2015, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Anil Chopra, the former CEO of Lakme Lever, who also joined the company's board. Despite its initial success and rapid growth, the company faced challenges in a competitive market. After failing to secure a new round of funding, StayGlad was acquired by the online classifieds company Quikr in September 2016 for an undisclosed amount, reported to be less than ₹50 crore. The entire 100-member StayGlad team, including the founders, was integrated into Quikr's own on-demand beauty service vertical, AtHomeDiva.
Keywords: on-demand beauty services, at-home salon, beauty marketplace, mobile beauty services, hyperlocal services, beauty professionals, Glow Prime Technologies, Prateek Jain, Shashank Gupta, Kavish Desai, Quikr acquisition, AtHomeDiva, Indian startup, beauty tech