Masaj, the London massage chain, has raised £1.5 million to open three further studios in the capital over the next 18 months, with Figr Ventures leading the round with a £500,000 investment.
Sorven Capital also took part, alongside angel investors including Giles Brook, the former commercial director of Innocent Smoothies.
The business turned over just over £2 million in 2025 and is forecasting revenues of almost £3 million this year. It has a team of 110 people, including self-employed therapists, across three high street sites. The most recent is an eight-room studio in Islington, north London, which opened in June.
Masaj was started in 2016 by Scarlet Amies, then working as a self-employed therapist. She was joined two years later by Alice Vaughan, whom she met through an advert on the Escape the City careers website. The business is run by its two female founders, who between them oversee the studio estate and the therapist model.
Amies, 37, said the money would go on increased marketing spend and the three new sites, after which the company would seek further funding to expand across London.
“We want to get to six sites before we really raise money and leverage debt to get the scale,” Amies said. “We don’t scrimp on our build. We make sure they’re really great and they’re there to last and people to go, ‘Wow!’”
Masaj charges £70 for a 30-minute session. Its therapists work on commission and are offered a guaranteed minimum income, with additional payments for those with long tenure. They also receive free training, diary management, uniforms, snacks and team-building sessions.
The raise comes as spending on personal grooming services continues to rise. Household expenditure on hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishments reached £10.3 billion in 2025, up from £9.9 billion in 2024, according to Office for National Statistics consumer trends data. Several premium brands have entered the market alongside existing independents, an area in which investors have backed a number of beauty and wellness businesses in recent years. Townhouse has grown in nails, Facegym is targeting facials, Duck & Dry offers blow drys and EverySkin provides skin treatments.
“I think what Facegym are doing from a facial perspective is really impressive,” said Vaughan, 40. “Townhouse is also a massive one for us in terms of inspiration, not just how they have raised [funding] and how it was founded, but in terms of its service offering and what they are doing for the industry of nail technicians, providing opportunities for training and development and work opportunities.
“For us it is about doing things slightly differently and responding to genuine customer needs as they are evolving. The market is moving so quickly and we believe we are riding the wave of it in the right way.”
Amies said the industry suffered from inconsistent service, with no single brand providing easy-access, quality treatment at scale, something Masaj intended to address. The expansion plan rests on massage taking a permanent place among the mix of services now filling space on UK high streets.
“Alice and I are incredibly ambitious and we feel that all major high streets can have a massage therapist on them,” Amies said.
Vaughan said the founders were mindful of the language they use to describe the business, differentiating it from clinics providing sports massage or cheaper options, where service is inconsistent.
“[There] you will possibly have businesses who are not treating their workforce well, being underpaid, overworked, and there are still connotations with the sex industry,” Vaughan said.
“It is a challenge that we have to deal with in our studios on an almost daily basis in terms of inquiries from people who are looking for things that we don’t offer. So anything we can do as founders to set expectations much higher for our industry we should be doing for our bodyworkers and our guests.”
