Soothe, the on-demand massage service, just closed a $35 million Series B round from its pre-existing investors. This brings its total funding to $47.7 million. This puts Soothe even further ahead of its main competitor, Zeel, which has raised roughly $13.2 million to date. In September, Soothe snatched up its other competitor, Unwind Me, for an undisclosed amount.
Soothe says the funding is for expanding into 20 additional markets by the end of this year. In the last three months, Soothe has seen 23-30 percent growth in month-over-month revenue, the company’s founder and CEO Merlin Kauffman told me about a month ago. He went on to say that Soothe has a lot of runway and that its current investors simply wanted to grow more aggressively.
Soothe currently operates in 22 cities and recently launched in London. The company started in Los Angeles, but New York is its fastest growing market and is expected to surpass Los Angeles, Kauffman said.
Soothe has a network of more than 3,000 massage therapists who are independent contractors. That means they have to bring their own tables, sheets and oils, and carry their own insurance. Through Soothe, therapists make about $70 an hour, which the company says is more than the industry standard. A standard massage ranges anywhere from $99 for one hour to $169 for two hours.