How Yes Madam Is Bootstrapping Its Way To INR 200 Cr Beauty-Tech Growth Story

Long before the pandemic pushed salons to offer at-home services, women worldwide were craving them, not for safety, but for convenience. At-home alternatives — few and far between a decade ago — promised convenience but often fell short on quality, hygiene and transparency. Products came in unmarked bottles. The tools looked dubious. And pricing was negotiated on the spot. 

Essentially, home salon services saw the same flaw persist for years: A striking lack of standardisation. The quality of beauty and wellness offerings leaned heavily on individual excellence rather than replicating processes that would guarantee best outcomes all the time. Rising operating costs and an informal workforce only deepened the cracks.

In December 2016, Mayank and Aditya Arya, mariners-turned-entrepreneurs, confronted this broken system firsthand. When their spouses developed painful skin irritations after a botched beauty service, the Arya brothers realised that quality lapses had spread through the home salon market and it was ripe for disruption. That’s how the idea for Yes Madam was born.

“We saw an unserved middle segment — urban, value-seeking customers priced out of premium salons but dissatisfied with local parlours,” said cofounder and CEO, Aditya Arya. “Our pitch is simple: Make beauty and wellness services affordable, reliable and easy to book.”

The Noida-based beauty tech startup launched in December 2016 to deliver salon-quality services at home. By 2019, the brothers roped in a third cofounder, Akanksha Vishnoi, a Symbiosis Law School graduate with a flair for branding and marketing.

India’s overall beauty salon market reached $11.6 Bn in 2024 and is projected to hit $23 Bn by 2033, at a CAGR of 7.8%, according to Custom Market Insights. Although home salon services, a subset of this broader market, are riding the wave of the on-demand everything economy, standalone data for this segment remains scarce. Nevertheless, global patterns provide a useful proxy: Mobile and at-home salon services combined account for roughly 10% of the total salon market worldwide. Applied to India, that combined segment could have been worth around $1.2 Bn in 2024 and would potentially double by 2033. 

Yes Madam operates in this space, providing premium services, including salon and spa at home for both male and female customers, along with laser treatments, high-end facial, makeup, as well as pre-bridal packages, and more for its female customers. It is part of a startup cohort that bets on standardising quality in the fragmented beauty and personal care services sector, where inconsistent training, hygiene gaps and pricing opacity have historically deterred customers from booking home visits. 

The landscape, however, is getting more crowded by the day. Yes Madam is up against a growing pool of players such as Urban Company, a competitor with strong brand recall and deep pockets, along with emerging rivals like GetLook, Swagmee, and GlamCode.

Yes Madam shot into the limelight after its appearance on Shark Tank India Season 3. The deal didn’t go through eventually, but the visibility was instant, website traffic jumped nearly 10x, and the user base tripled, giving the brand significant momentum across India.

The platform also experienced strong revenue growth, from INR 13.44 Cr in FY20 to INR 45 Cr in FY24, a 246% rise in four years. According to Aditya, the brand aims to achieve INR 200 Cr in revenue by the end of the current financial year, up from INR 94.4 Cr in FY25, a 112% jump. Its EBITDA is expected to grow by 368% YoY in FY26.

While several factors are driving this growth trajectory, Aditya believes it is the blend of affordability, trust, innovation, and quality that is really driving word of mouth. The company currently operates in more than 60 cities and plans to expand further. 

But for Yes Madam, expansion is no longer just a plan; it is already in motion. Tier I cities continue to deliver steady demand, while Tier II markets are quickly becoming fertile ground for growth. Much of the company’s attention is now turning south and east, to regions where disposable incomes are rising and beauty and wellness are shifting from indulgence to routine. To match that appetite, Yes Madam is quietly building its teams and capabilities, not in a rush, but in step with the scale it wants to achieve.

Decoding Yes Madam’s Momentum: From Losses To Hypergrowth 

For Yes Madam, revenue comes from three lines — service commissions, product sales and training fees. More impressively, its financials tell a hypergrowth story compressed into two years. Its revenue more than tripled from INR 28.33 Cr in FY23 to INR 94.4 Cr in FY25 — a 233% jump that few startups could achieve. The brand turned around from FY23 losses to posting net profits of INR 1.83 Cr by FY25. What makes this remarkable is the pace, a 390% growth over two years, fuelled almost entirely by customer-generated revenue rather than investor capital. 

But first things first. Since its inception, Yes Madam has bet on a counterintuitive strategy: Perfect the service before chasing scale. It has introduced per-minute pricing, itemised bills separating product costs from service costs, and tamper-proof packaging for every beauty product used during appointments. These choices address the core problem that had sparked the venture in the first place — unregulated practices causing harm to customers.

“With consistent quality, strict hygiene and affordable experiences, we are building a brand that defines the mass-premium segment, one led by high frequency, strong repeat rates and low churn,” said Aditya.

This consistency worked in the brand’s favour, while its early financials reflected cautious expansion. The startup turned its first profit of INR 94 Lakh in FY24 after enduring losses of INR 7.52 Lakh in FY18 and INR 32.73 Lakh in FY19. 

The pandemic years, spanning 2020-2022, forced the founders into survival mode without access to venture funding. But instead of shuttering the business, the team restructured its operations around a single principle: Go for positive unit economics before expansion.

That discipline paid off in FY24. Revenue increased by 69% to INR 45.76 Cr, while net profit stood at INR 0.94 Cr. The momentum accelerated through FY25, when revenue hit INR 94.4 Cr, more than triple the FY23 baseline, while profit reached INR 1.83 Cr.

Its operational metrics reveal how this growth happened. The number of bookings exploded, from 4.9 Lakh annually in FY23 to nearly 14 Lakh cumulative bookings by FY25. This 186% surge reflects national visibility following Shark Tank and an aggressive expansion into 60+ cities from fewer than 20. Scaling up has also helped spread infrastructure costs across larger revenue bases. Monthly bookings hit 2.4 Lakh by 2025, generating predictable recurring revenue from users who book repeatedly.

EBITDA progression also reveals improving unit economics. From approximately INR 0.15 Cr in FY23, EBITDA grew to INR 1.26 Cr in FY24, and then to INR 2.56 Cr in FY25. With management targeting INR 200 Cr for FY26, Yes Madam appears well positioned to maintain 80-100% annual growth while generating cash, a performance rarely achieved in India’s burn-heavy consumer services sector.

A strong customer base and solid retention: Over the past few years, Yes Madam has quietly built an active customer base of nearly 10.71 Lakh. But what makes the model stick is not just the scale but retention. Almost 80% of users come back, suggesting this is not a trial-and-error service but a habit taking root.

Still, growth hasn’t been driven by loyal users alone. The 45% CAGR in bookings suggests that while the platform successfully acquired new users, booking frequency per customer declined slightly over the period. However, the brand maintained revenue growth of 36% CAGR through operational efficiency and product mix optimisation, demonstrating its ability to scale profitably despite competitive pricing pressures.

“People keep coming back because they love the little things. They can rebook easily, choose their favourite professionals, earn through loyalty wallets, and use our high-quality products, which are sealed until used. With us, they are getting personalised care without stepping out of home, and that’s what everyone wants,” said Aditya.

A product strategy that pays: Product quality and hygiene worries were persistent concerns in the home salon business, and many customers were reluctant to use unsealed products. So, the brand made products in-house, controlling quality and cost and building trust. Next, it used white-label products across services, which helped expand profit margins. Additionally, it introduced a small convenience fee for customers to maintain service affordability while boosting profits. Noted among its product lines are Sokora, a Korean-inspired skincare range, and Organica da Roma, an Italian botanical brand. 

“We understand our customers — their behaviour, preferences and concerns. We make exactly what they ask for,” said Aditya. “Many of our new launches outperform previous bestsellers. We still offer other brands, but our own range is preferred because customers find it better.”

Yes Madam also built flexibility around product usage, a key differentiator in a price-conscious market. Customers are allowed to use their own products and pay only for the professional’s time. They can also reuse products left from previous sessions at no extra cost. This approach enhances transparency, reduces wastage and creates goodwill, while competitors often mandate in-house product use to protect margins.

A 12K+ partner network: Yes Madam has built a network of 12K+ beauty professionals, with 65% of them active every month. Most came from small neighbourhood parlours or worked as freelancers, but the platform has made them part of a well-organised system. Each is now onboarded through digital and referral channels, verified through KYC and background checks, assessed via demo audits and certified by the Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council (B&WSSC).

Partners on house calls are tracked in real time through geo-mapped dispatch to ensure safety and service accountability. Ratings are monitored constantly, and those falling below the threshold are sent for retraining to maintain service quality. An active partner earns between INR 35K and INR 1 Lakh per month, retaining nearly 50% of the total service revenue. The platform, on the other hand, earns up to 25% in commissions, along with margins in product sales and convenience fees.

In July 2024, the brand reduced its commission to zero per cent, a move aimed at enhancing trust and partner retention. Higher commission rates had previously attracted transient workers who failed to align with the brand’s business value and service quality.

What Comes Next: Expansion, Tech And The Challenge Of Scale

According to Aditya, the startup’s focus has been clear from the outset. It wants to capture the mass-premium segment, a category of consumers that is expanding rapidly across Tier I and II cities. The strategy now is to consolidate the brand’s presence in major metropolitan areas and enter new markets in the West and Northeast.

Alongside geographic expansion, the platform has expanded its service portfolio to include men’s grooming, along with laser hair removal and high-end facials for women. It is also setting up tech-powered salons. These additions are designed to deepen wallet share and move the brand beyond traditional at-home beauty services.

With these initiatives in place, the business aims to double its revenue and more than triple its EBITDA by the end of the current fiscal year. The CEO believes the growth trajectory will remain sustainable, as it has been in the past. His long-term goal is to reach INR 1K Cr in revenue while maintaining consistent double-digit EBITDA.

“Around 30% of our future revenue should come from private-label products. Therefore, we are investing in AI-powered beauty devices and personalised solutions under the Sokora line. Expansion to GCC and Southeast Asian markets is also on the cards, as we want to export India’s beauty-tech model to global consumers,” he told Inc42.

But the next phase is not without challenges. 

“We are building India’s most loved and profitable beauty-tech ecosystem. But when Yes Madam scales, it will have to retain its partner base, keep service quality consistent and protect margins in smaller cities where spending power and density differ from metros. Expanding the training pipeline and standardising infrastructure across all touchpoints will be critical, and considerably more complex, at scale,” explained Aditya.

The brand must now do more than grow. It has to hold itself together while doing it. That means strengthening its tech backbone, staying compliant in every market it enters and protecting customer trust in a space where competitors are multiplying by the month. It has to retain its vision and value of Day I — mass-premium pricing, top products and a salon experience that stands out whether the user is in Dubai, Delhi or Guwahati.

Whether Yes Madam can keep that balance while scaling is still an open question. In the end, growth is not only about how far a business can go, but whether it can do so without losing the identity that got it here.