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London online health and beauty marketplace Wahanda acquires Lithuanian app development consultancy

London-based health and beauty marketplace, Wahanda, has acquired an app development consultancy as part of a strategic focus on becoming a mobile-first company.

Wahanda, which was launched in the City in 2008, has over 8,000 spas and salons signed up to its online booking platform and is growing at 280% year-on-year.

The acquisition of Lithuanian-based Lemon Labs this week aids Wahanda’s ongoing expansion plans across Europe.

Lopo Champalimaud, CEO and founder of Wahanda said: “We have been working with the Lemon Labs team for the past six months in building our consumer and business apps, and the results speak for themselves,

“Last week we broke through the 150,000 downloads mark, and that number is growing 20% month on month”.

“The future of Wahanda is in mobile, and we are delighted the Lemon Labs team is now officially an integrated part of our technology team and can continue to lead our product thinking and development, to ensure we deliver the best possible mobile experience for our users.”

Tomas Dirvonskas, co-founder of Lemon Labs, said: “Wahanda’s bookings show that 50% of all hair and beauty appointments are now made via a mobile device, and that a fifth of consumers who make appointments now expect to be seen within three hours of making that booking.

“By becoming part of the in-house team we will be able to shape Wahanda’s product offering to an even greater degree, and help deliver on making Wahanda a truly mobile-first company.”

The Lemon Labs deal is the second acquisition for Wahanda in recent months; the UK business bought its German equivalent Salonmeister in November after raising $26 million in fresh investment funding last year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .