PE to exit as Japan's Recruit buys Wahanda

The company raised its first institutional round in 2008, receiving GBP1.5 million ($2.2 million) from Ambient Sound Investment. Fidelity Growth Partners then led a GBP3.5 million Series B round in 2011, before returning in October last year to invest $26 million alongside Recruit and Lepe Partners.

Headquartered in London, Wahanda is an online platform that enables customers to find local salons where they can book hair and beauty appointments. It operates in the UK, Germany, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Austria, and lists about 12,000 spas and salons.

Recruit – a conglomerate that owns Japan’s largest staffing agency – is looking to capitalize on Europe's still largely untapped beauty market. According to a release, the adoption of online reservations in the beauty industry is still less than 1% in major economies like the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain – low compared when compared to other sectors such as travel.

Recruit added that its long-term vision as a group is to provide “the number one global matching platform in each of the verticals in which it operates.” In recent years the company has sought to enter new verticals and expand its footprint through acquisitions both in Japan and overseas.

A number of Recruit’s recent acquisitions have involved private equity and venture capital-invested companies. In March it acquired German VC-backed restaurant booking site Quandoo for EUR198.6 million ($219 million). Prior to that it bought Australia-based IT and specialist recruiting firm Peoplebank from Navis Capital Partners for A$68.6 million ($56.6 million).

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• Topics
• Europe
• North Asia
• Buyouts
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• Consumer
• United Kingdom
• Japan
• Fidelity Growth Partners
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