Background: Mayvenn is an offline-to-online retail solution for the Salon industry. We provide web and mobile point-of-sale applications that allow salons and stylists to retail products without having to buy or hold inventory.
Challenges: Mayvenn sought funding to build an ecommerce application to allow hair-stylists to retail products without having to hold inventory or go to a beauty supply store. Mayvenn had developed relationships with high quality beauty product suppliers in China and had been selling those products door-to-door. Mayvenn realized that a technology solution would not only be more effective, but could also allow hair-stylists to benefit from an additional revenue stream by earning commissions on products they sold their customers who trusted them.
Actions: Mayvenn worked with a Business Advisor at the Alameda County SBDC to develop its investor pitch, PowerPoint, and financial model to begin approaching investors.
Results: Mayvenn received initial seed funding. After finding a technical co-founder, Mayvenn was selected for 500 startups and raised equity funding. The company launched its online application in October 2013, and subsequently raised $13 million of venture capital financing to expand operations.
