Singapore-based portal to navigate consumers for spa selection

Known as the online health and beauty counterpart to Hungrygowhere, Wellnessly is a Singapore-based platform which allows users to sort and choose between the good, better and best spas and wellness centres, based on the reviews.

The platform operates by enabling consumers to search and size up services and book appointments on the spot. Aside from facials and hair care, Wellnessly also includes other beauty and wellness verticals like spas, massages, gym and yoga packages.

The platform not only provides accurate reviews about spas, it also navigates consumers to make apt decisions like whether to get a mud mask facial or a microdermabrasion session. Which nail package is value-for-money? And so on.

Wellnessly is Co-Foundered by Shawn Toh, David Chua and Leonard Ng who revealed that they came up with the idea to create a platform for beauty reviews and setting appointments at a start-up workshop.

“We realised that there was a Hungrygowhere for food in Singapore, but there was an absence of the equivalent for beauty services; a Beautygowhere or Uglygowhere for instance. We were inspired and decided to bring that idea to life in Asia,” noted Toh.

In a bid to grow and assist the community, the site launched a review option for deals on Groupon, after their research showed that purchased deals were fraught with bad service.

“With the beauty industry holding the record for being the highest complained about industry, our strategy is to have a higher emphasis on reviews and community building,” added Toh.

He further explained, “Consumers dealt with bad beauty experiences and less than satisfactory results, so with this new feature, users can purchase deals confidently and read reviews of what others are saying.”

Wellnessly’s proposition comes on the heels of a rise in online review and booking portals for health and beauty-related services, some of which have raised millions in funding. UK-based Wahanda recently raised US$26 million, while in the US, Style Seat reins with its US$10.2 million Series A round.

In Asia, players like Japan-based HotPepperBeauty and Singapore-based Lookbooker have entered into the space, now joined by Wellnessly.

Significantly, the company is looking towards raising funds in the next few months. The start-up intends to expand its headcount and scale the product to get 80 per cent of the beauty businesses in Singapore listed on the site. The team is also working on improving user experience and integrating social aspects into the platform.