Wahanda clinches £3.5m second-round funding

UK-based health and beauty online specialist Wahanda has announced new £3.5 million second round funding to fuel growth and a possible move overseas.

Founder and chief executive Lopo Champalimaud raised the prospect of a new funding injection during a speech at last week’s Travolution Summit.

The new funding has come from Fidelity Growth Partners Europe and adds to the £1.5 million of initial investment by Ambient Sound Investment in 2008.

Wahanda told the Travolution Summit that beauty treatments were among the most complex products to retail online and its aim was to provide customers with a simple process.

The site currently boasts 10 million visitors a year and lists 250,000 businesses offering 5,000 exclusive offers. As part of the latest funding round Davor Hebel, a partner at FGPA, will join the board.

In a statement Champalimaud said: “Our vision is to do for health, beauty and wellness what Amazon did for books. We have created an online destination where people can find, discover, share and book anything they want to do with health, beauty and wellness.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Fidelity Growth Partners Europe and we are looking forward to the passion and experience Davor will bring to our board.”