?Naturals to acquire Yuvraj Singh-funded startup Vyomo

Chennai- based, Naturals salon is all set to take over Vyomo, an aggregator of beauty salon doorstep services funded by cricketer Yuvraj Singh, reports ET.

The salon chain is investing Rs 100 crore for a controlling stake in Vyomo. The collaboration of a brick and-mortar salon chain with an app-based beauty services aggregator, will give Naturals an entry into the on-demand beauty services space. Vyomo, which will be renamed Naturals@ Home, will get access to a large pool of stylists and wider reach.

"We get access to 7,500 Naturals stylists at almost no incremental cost with this deal. We were lacking in the salon experience but post this deal, we will have the capacity be able to service 25,000 customers a day," Abhinav Khare, Founder, Vyomo told ET.

On the occasion, CK Kumaravel, CEO & Co-founder, Naturals said: “Almost 30% of the beauty business is now moving to home services. We have been salon specialists but we realised that on demand services are playing a very important role in the beauty space now. Since we ourselves don't understand the back end and how the tech space works, the deal with Vyomo opens up a completely new opportunity for us."

“The Rs 100 crore that comes from the deal will be used to develop technology and expand aggressively to meet customer demand, while management at Vyomo won't change, and the board will have representation from both entities,” added Khare.

Vyomo, the Bengaluru-based tech-enabled hyperlocal startup, has a presence in five cities. Post the deal, it plans to extend its reach to 80 cities over six months, capitalising on the operational strength of Naturals. It had raised an undisclosed amount in seed funds from Yuvraj Singh's VC fund YouWeCan Ventures and Taxi for Sure founder Aprameya Radhakrishna.

Naturals, which set up operations in 2000 in Chennai has close to 550 salons operational in 80 cities. It targets to have 3,000 salons by 2018 and more than 10,000 by 2025.