On-demand wellness app Urban closes $10M Series B to double down on beauty and fitness.

Europe’s number one wellness services app, Urban, has raised a further $10M to double down on its mission of empowering city-dwellers to prioritise their wellbeing.

This latest round of investment comes at a time when the company is nearing profitability. Led by patient venture investor, Accelerated Digital Ventures (ADV), it will enable Urban to accelerate towards its goal of becoming a one-stop shop for on-demand wellness services.

Existing investors Passion Capital and Felix Capital also participated. To support the expansion, Urban is in the process of recruiting a team of 30 engineers in Lithuania. “Our new Vilnius office will be instrumental in helping to evolve our service,” says Giles Williams, co-founder and CTO of Urban. “The Lithuania team will work on all aspects of our marketplace platform, including its award-winning client apps, practitioner business software, corporate offering and data science projects.”

In November 2018, the London-headquartered company expanded its on-demand services beyond massage to include osteopathy, facial, and nail services. These services have been widely embraced, with 80% of new service revenue driven by existing customers.

In a world where wellness means something different to everyone, Urban cuts through the noise. They make it easy for city-dwellers to take time for treatments that help them feel at their best, be it a rejuvenating facial or a deep tissue massage.

But rather than thinking of these things of one-off rewards, Urban conceives of them as an integral part of wellbeing, unlocking individual potential. That’s why, with more services in the pipeline, their goal is to be the go-to destination for the wellness needs of anyone who lives in a city.

Their philosophy aligns perfectly with major investor ADV, which prioritises longevity over short-term gains.

Lee Strafford, ADV’s CEO says: “Urban is building an ecosystem of wellness offerings for a modern society with a highly varied set of needs. We really like Urban’s vision of delivering on consumer needs while making wellness a better business for therapists on the platform. So we’re delighted to partner with the team as they execute on their ambition.”

Urban founder Jack Tang says: “We’re excited to partner with ADV in the next stage of our growth and ambition. ADV’s long-term investment philosophy aligns with our plans to grow sustainably and organically, improving our already robust unit economics.”

We have a super exciting roadmap ahead. Our newly expanded engineering team means we can empower even more wellness practitioners to build thriving, independent businesses with Urban.

Our goal is to become the one-stop shop for on-demand wellness services, and with the services we offer today, we’re just getting started.”

ENDS

Notes for editors
Key business highlights

• Aug 2016 £3.5m Series A led by Felix Capital – unannounced as we focused on delivering the best experiences for our customers (therapists and end-users)
• Sep 2016 Paris launch – third largest city market globally for wellness spend after NYC and London
• Nov 2017 introduced £49 off-peak massage in a bid to reduce the barrier to wellness services
• Feb 2018 Milk Beauty (at-home B2C) and Freauty (B2B) acquired to bolster our corporate wellness offering
• May 2018 therapist ambassador scheme for UK and FR launched to ensure the community’s voice is well considered for any policy planning to deliver best-in-class experience for the professionals
• Aug 2018 Seedrs crowdfunding raised £3.5m convertible note / advance subscription with 800+ new investors to help us shape the future and roadmap (majority of the investment was from current customers, therapists, staff and current VC backers)
• Nov 2018 Urban massage rebrands as Urban, introducing osteopathy, nails and facial services, delivered in partnership with brands such as Dermalogica and Aveda
• May 2019 Urban closes $10M Series B to double down on its mission of empowering city-dwellers to prioritise their wellbeing.

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About Urban
Founded in 2014, Urban is an on-demand wellness app on a mission to empower people through wellbeing. At Urban, we believe that when you’re well, you’re better equipped to go after everything else in your life. It’s the easy way to book the treatments you need – massage, nails, skincare and osteopathy – in the comfort of your home, office or hotel. Urban is currently available in four cities across Europe – London, Manchester, Birmingham and Paris and is backed by some of London’s leading VC firms.

About Accelerated Digital Ventures (ADV)

ADV is a patient venture investment engine. Its team are entrepreneurs and operators who have learnt the hard lessons and want to pay them forward. Currently investing £150M, ADV takes the long view of business building, investing across the funding lifecycle of startups, scaleups and ‘scalebigs’. ADV champions the innovators – the people who build complex, technical, generation-defining businesses. ADV’s investors are British Business Bank, Legal & General and Woodford Investment Management.

This investment was from ADV’s British Business Bank ECF fund.

Say hello at www.accelerated.ventures | @AcceleratedDV