blow LTD. Receives £500,000 From Unilever Venture During Seedrs Initiative

On Wednesday, Seedrs announced that blow LTD, described as uber for beauty, has received £500,000 from Unilever Venture during its highly successful equity crowdfunding.

Blow 1The company, which was co-founded by Fiona McIntosh (ex-Editor-in-Chief of Grazia and ELLE) and Dharmash Mistry, has delivered over 70,000 services with a consumer satisfaction score of 90% and is available from 7 a.m. to late evening hours through its app. Its stylists are vetted and tested at its beauty bar hubs, and all “on demand” professions are insured, CRB/identity checked and registered as self-employed. Customers can order the products through the app or go to Blow’s flagship beauty bars (Covent Garden or Canary Wharf).

McIntosh and Mistry recently explained to Crowdfund Insider why they decided to turn to crowdfunding:

Blow LTD on Seedrs“Our decision to raise ‘insider’ money and top up with crowdfunding was made partly by weighing up the options, speaking to friends about the challenging terms in the market, our need for speed (limited distraction) and a large part serendipity. We were looking for an unconventional ‘in between’ round with minimal dilution, while we build more proof points before raising more capital to scale (at a higher price).”

Sharing details about the investment, Stephen Willson, investment director at Unilever Ventures, revealed to Seedrs:

Blow 2“blow LTD is a leading player in Beauty Services on Demand in Europe, with a unique multi-channel model, comprehensive operational processes focused on quality of service delivery and innovative two-way marketplace technology. Dharmash and Fiona are reinventing the service experience and ultimately creating a new route for product distribution. We are excited to partner with them and provide access to Unilever’s assets, ecosystem and expertise.”

McIntosh and Mistry also commented on Unilever Ventures’ contribution:

Blow 3“We are delighted to bring on board the Unilever Ventures team to help us scale our vision for beauty services on demand and create the next distribution channel for products in the UK and beyond. In parallel, the success of our equity crowdfunding experiment means we embark on the next stage of the blow LTD journey with nearly 200 new brand ambassadors. Thank you to Jeff [Lynn] and the Seedrs team, who have been great to explore and test new ideas with.”

Funds from the campaign will go towards the delivery of the company’s product roadmap; recruiting, onboarding, quality control, and customer services process. blow will continue to test a range of organic and paid marketing channels while adding senior management talent and build operations.

Since its launch, the initiative has secured over £1.1 million.

 

 

 


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