Salon, spa and beauty platform Fresha acquires Australia’s Bookwell

Australian-founded beauty and wellbeing marketplace Bookwell is to be acquired by global competitor Fresha in a deal reported as valuing the company in excess of $10 million.

Founded in 2017, Bookwell is a free online marketplace allowing people to book treatments at small and medium beauty and wellness businesses.

The acquisition by, UK-based Fresha, the world’s biggest beauty and wellness bookings services, will see a change for the more than 700 salons and day spas around Australia that currently reach customers through the Bookwell platform. As of earlier this year, about 80,000 customers accessed the marketplace every week.

In a statement, Bookwell co-founder and Chief Executive Matt Dyer said the acquisition provides a “perfect opportunity to enhance Bookwell’s offering”.

Dyer added that the post acquisition platform will offer tools for facilitating online payments, self-service bookings and automated marketing.

Based in London, Fresha, founded in 2015 under the name Shedul, and rebranded in 2020, is used by 60,000 businesses across more than 120 countries.

Fresha founder and Chief Executive William Zeqiri said there is a “natural synergy” between Fresha’s marketplace and Bookwell’s base of partner businesses, noting “Bookwell’s progress in Australia is commendable.

“The team have built a strong business model helping salons and therapists save thousands each year on marketing to fill empty appointments.”

In December last year, Fresha secured a US$52.5 million investment, bringing its total raising to US$152.5 million - giving the business a valuation of more than US$640 million.

Last week, it announced a partnership with beauty influencer Huda Kattan following further investment from her company, HB Investments.

The partnership with the founder of leading cosmetics brand Huda Beauty followed Fresha launching an online shopping experience Fresha Store.

Kattan built her multimillion-dollar cosmetics brand through her social media accounts, where she shared her passion for the beauty industry, amassing more than 50 million Instagram followers to date.

Image: The Capelli Lunghi Hair Salon in Melbourne's South Yarra. Credit: Bookwell.