Success Story
An on-demand beauty marketplace, which allows customers to order a host of beauty services to their desired location, has raised £2m to accelerate its growth in the North West by doubling down on its existing operations in Manchester and Liverpool.
| Region/Nation | North West |
|---|---|
| Sector | Consumer Goods & Services |
| Programme | Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II |
| Partner |
Ruuby has raised the money in a round led by the NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, which is managed by Praetura as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, who provided £1.5m of the investment.
The company also raised further investment from its existing shareholders, which include notable female angels Michelle Kennedy and Whitney Bromberg Hawkings as well as former Bulgari CEO Francesco Trapani.
Ruuby was founded in 2016 by Forbes 30 under 30 honouree, Venetia Archer, after she spotted a gap in the market for at-home beauty service delivery. Since then, Lancashire-based Ruuby has delivered nearly 500,000 services across multiple groups of treatments, such as hair, nails, massage, waxing, IV drips and cosmetic injectables.
Coming off the heels of a 500 per cent surge in sales post-COVID, the funding will be used to further improve the platform’s efficiency and support the expansion of its service across the North West. This scale-up means that over 200 beauty and wellness professionals will secure jobs through the platform to cater for tens of thousands of customers in the region.
The capital will also boost Ruuby’s business-to-business offering which includes event pop-ups, client hospitality and branded experiences. This growth will build on an already extensive hospitality portfolio including globally renowned hotels in the region such as Hotel Gotham, Stock Exchange, Hyatt and Dakota.
The business now has over 150,000 users, including stars Abbey Clancy, Peter Crouch and Amy Jackson and celebrities such as Victoria Beckham. Ruuby also collaborates with over 3,000 beauty professionals, delivering treatments within 90 minutes across the UK.
In December last year, Ruuby’s Northern practitioners worked with luxury fashion-house Chanel to deliver make-up and hair styling to 25 of their VIPs for their debut Manchester Cruise Show.
Ruuby is also branching out internationally by taking its services to Switzerland, a further step in its mission to deliver top-tier beauty services across Europe.
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