COVID has had a devastating impact on the salon and spa industries as the public shied away from anything requiring close in-person contact overnight. However, the use of technology is accelerating the rebound for these industries. Boulevard is a spa and salon management platform designed specifically to address the unique needs of the industry. The platform’s functionality is robust and allows facilities to manage all facets of their operations, ranging from bookings, marketing, payment, and reporting. Partners on the platform have been able to restore their businesses to 75% of their Pre-COVID numbers.
LA TechWatch caught up with Cofounder & CEO Matt Danna to learn more about the company’s future plans, experience working with partners during the pandemic, and latest funding round, which brings the total funding raised to $38M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We raised $27M in Series B funding co-led by Index Ventures and Toba Capital, with participation from VMG Partners, Bonfire Ventures, Ludlow Ventures, and BoxGroup.
Tell us about your product or service.
Boulevard is the premier salon and spa management platform designed to streamline operations, increase sales, and delight customers. Developed in collaboration with industry-leading owners and operators, our all-in-one platform includes client self-scheduling, CRM, marketing, custom reporting, and integrated payment processing. We’re proud to be delivering an intuitive, modern SaaS solution to an industry traditionally underserved by technology, helping them unlock their full potential.
What inspired the start of Boulevard?
Boulevard was founded in 2016 by myself, and Sean Stavropoulos with the mission of modernizing the technology powering salons and spas while improving the daily lives of professionals and the clients they serve.
While working on our previous startup, there was a week when Sean’s hair was a mess. Turns out, Sean kept forgetting to call the salon to make an appointment during the day, but at night when he remembered, they were closed. We knew there had to be a better solution than calling salons to book appointments. Sean and I did some research, while spending countless hours behind the front desks of salons across LA, and learned that most beauty and personal care businesses rely on legacy technology that was undeserving their operations. Even though we were outsiders to an industry that we had only engaged with as consumers, we believed we could create something better.
How is it different?
Boulevard stands out for the ease-of-use and sophistication of its platform, which was developed with the unique needs of salons and spas in mind. Competitors in the space have tried to shoehorn a product that was built for yoga and pilates studios into the beauty industry, but the two have completely different needs.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
There is more than $250 billion spent per year across roughly 3 million businesses in the salon and spa category. This is a huge market that is still plagued by legacy systems and marketplace startups that struggle to deliver results for their customers.
What’s your business model?
Boulevard’s technology is offered as a platform-as-a-service, starting at $175/month.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
Salons and spas already operate on notoriously razor-thin margins (less than 5%), and COVID-19 has forced them to run even leaner. All salons and spas have been forced to transform how they operate and accelerate their adoption of modern tech. With Boulevard already designed to help minimize overhead and eliminate inefficiencies, we’ve received a surge of new customers ready to upgrade their system.
Thankfully, despite COVID-19 and the reduced capacity regulations, consumer demand for beauty services has remained remarkably high. As of mid-November, our salon and spa partners are back to about 75% of the sales they were generating pre-COVID.
What was the funding process like?
Raising capital is never fun, but we’ve been incredibly fortunate to find amazing partners that have been supportive and full believers of our mission.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
There is a perception that salon and spa owners are unsophisticated customers, very late on the technology adoption curve. But in reality, they are remarkable business owners and operators who have been overlooked by Silicon Valley.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Besides our 3-4x growth YoY, it was our technology and raving customers that compelled our investors to join in our mission. Boulevard provides value that our customers never dreamed was possible with technology. And we built it in the most authentic way possible: on location, behind the front desk and in the back office.
Besides our 3-4x growth YoY, it was our technology and raving customers that compelled our investors to join in our mission. Boulevard provides value that our customers never dreamed was possible with technology. And we built it in the most authentic way possible: on location, behind the front desk and in the back office.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Being reunited with my incredible team. We miss working side-by-side and the office snacks.
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Having bootstrapped Boulevard for the first 2 years of our company, we’ve never stopped being frugal with how we spend our capital. Always consider ROI, but also the payback period for the return.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We’re investing in product and engineering to continue to drive additional value for our customers. We’re just getting started.
What’s your favorite outdoor activity in LA?
Taking my dog Rufus for walks around Park La Brea.
