The demand for home salon services has grown rapidly in recent years, with the pandemic-led lockdowns changing routines and preferences. Tapping into this shift is SalonTym, a Noida-based startup offering beauty treatments for women through both tech-enabled, at-home services as well as brick-and-mortar franchises.
SalonTym was founded in July 2023 by friends Vishal Saini and Geeta Chetri under the legal entity ThinkAI Innovation Pvt Ltd. The goal was to offer accessible home salon services, with a focus on women’s employment.
Saini is an IIT Roorkee graduate who previously co-founded YesMadam in 2017 and has also worked with companies including Airtel and Hike Messenger. Meanwhile, Chetri, CEO of the company, brings over 10 years of experience in operations working in real estate and education.
“When we started SalonTym, our initial focus was on transparency and maintaining a consistent price pool,” Saini, CTO of SalonTym, tells YourStory. “Some other apps charge Rs 1,000 for a classic facial. We did it for Rs 640 and ensured our pricing never fluctuates unfairly.”
Home salons powered by AI
SalonTym is a complete at-home salon experience, catering exclusively to women. Its services include make-up, hydra facials, body polishing, waxing, manicures, and pedicures—all delivered by a trained network of over 300 women service partners.
The company also offers some tech-enabled services.
SalonTym has developed a proprietary AI-driven skin analyser tool that allows users to scan their face through the app and receive hyper-personalised facial recommendations based on a database of over 1,000 skin types. “Our AI tool helps us deliver 90% accurate results in terms of which facial suits which skin. It’s like having a virtual beautician built into your phone,” Saini says.
Saini underscores that the data is collected with user consent in controlled environments and is not shared with any third parties like Meta or Google. “We follow strict privacy protocols as outlined in our policy and host the platform on AWS, using its advanced security features. All user data is stored in an encrypted form to ensure maximum protection,” he adds.
The startup also uses this data to power product development. That is how its in-house skincare brand Cosbar came into being, with products like facial kits, body polish kits, and waxing kits manufactured in partnership with a Delhi-based facility. “We use real customer data to formulate products. Today, 60% of our users prefer Cosbar,” he adds.
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Women are at the centre
“We’re not just running a business,” Chetri says. “We’re building careers for women, creating trust with customers, and showing that even with limited capital, you can achieve massive impact if the intent is right.”
SalonTym’s backbone comprises an army of women service partners, many of whom are single parents or come from financially modest backgrounds. The service partners work as freelancers and are compensated accordingly. The company provides free training programmes of 7-30 days through its training centres across cities. “We assess every woman’s skill level and customise training accordingly. Our trainers include beauty professionals, makeup experts, and massage therapists,” says Chetri.
SalonTym requires the service partner to purchase products like facial kits and other service kits directly from the startup to maintain quality control and to avoid counterfeit items. Most service partners earn an average of Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000 per month, the company says, with ‘super experts’ taking home over Rs 1.5 lakh monthly.
SalonTym currently operates in 23 cities, with offices in Noida, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, and will open new offices in Hyderabad and Mumbai before Raksha Bandhan this year. It has 35 full-time employees at each of its offices.
The startup is expanding through a franchise-owned, franchise-operated model across Tier II and III cities, including Chandigarh, Mohali, Lucknow, Surat, and Bhubaneswar. “We have 20 franchise offices operated by franchisee owners, and some of them even run their offices from home,” says Saini.
SalonTym operates on a franchise model where franchisees invest Rs 6 lakh for a five-year term and the startup guarantees business leads worth Rs 2 lakh in return.
SalonTym also has an eye on international expansion, with franchises in Kathmandu, Nepal. “We’re proud to be the only player offering our services outside India,” Saini adds.
SalonTym was launched with a debt funding of Rs 2.5 lakh and has since operated without any external funding. In FY24, the startup reported Rs 6 crore in revenue. The founders say the company is currently valued at around Rs 30 crore, and is expected to reach Rs 15-16 crore in revenue this year.
The startup is not looking for external funding at the moment.
“I don’t want investment. It’s an unnecessary burden if you’re profitable,” Saini says. “If your price is great, if your product is great, then you don’t need to worry about any big-name competitors.”
In fact, while platforms like Urban Company and Yes Madam are well-funded and widely known, Saini doesn’t see them as threats. “The beauty service market is massive. We’ve seen a 50% rise post-pandemic and expect that to hit 80% in 2-3 years. The key is maintaining quality and affordability.”
According to a report by IMARC Group, India’s beauty and personal care market was worth $29.6 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to $48.5 billion by 2033.
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What’s next?
SalonTym’s repeat customer rate is 80%, which is “a testament to the trust and consistency built in a short time,” says Saini. With AI innovation, product verticals, and strategic expansion, the team is now targeting the Rs 100 crore revenue milestone within the next two years.
Expansion plans include entering Kolkata, Pune, and Chennai markets, along with deeper penetration in Nepal and other international markets. The app, with over 100,000 downloads, will also soon see newer AI-driven features, including automated customer support and real-time service tracking, leveraging ThinkAI’s backend intelligence.
Edited by Kanishk Singh
