Beauty retail brand Townhouse hits £130 million valuation and launches crowdfunding round

British beauty business, Townhouse, has nabbed itself a valuation of £130 million after securing £48 million investment since inception. The most recent round was led by US growth equity firm Cartesian Capital - the backer behind Burger King China, Tim Hortons and Popeyes - alongside Nordic venture capital firm Big Bets (investor in Huuuge Gaming and Stark Future).

The new capital will accelerate its international franchising roll-out.

Founded in 2018 by Juanita Huber-Millet, Townhouse has grown from a single London flagship location into 44 locations across the UK and US. The business posted £19.4 million in revenue in 2025, up from £2.1 million in 2022.

Under Chief Executive Jonathan Millet, a former Carlyle Group executive who joined the business in 2020, Townhouse has signed 149 new UK franchise locations with multi-unit operators, including partners behind major food and beverage franchises such as Starbucks and Dominos. A further 346 international locations are in advanced negotiation across Europe, the United States and Asia.

When completed, the current pipeline would bring the company’s footprint to around 500 sites internationally, creating an estimated 5,400 new jobs. 

In 2025, Townhouse launched its own 100+ SKU nailcare product range as it looks to expand the brand beyond salons into what it labels a “vertically integrated beauty platform”.

Millet says Townhouse’s mission is to become the first globally recognised salon brand in this sector, an industry still dominated by independent salons. “Highly fragmented consumer sectors have historically consolidated around scaled platforms in coffee, gyms, hotels and fast food but the nail category has never had a global scale brand. Our ambition is to change that.”

Central to Townhouse’s model is its proprietary technology platform which integrates booking, training, inventory and analytics across every salon alongside physical technology solutions such as kiosks. The system enables franchise partners to replicate the brand’s customer operations standards consistently and forms the foundation for a new SaaS division serving other beauty operators.

Over the next decade, the company plans to continue its global franchise momentum, and boost its product range, whilst expanding beyond salons into SaaS licensing for beauty services. The overall goal is to become a £1 billion global operating platform with more than 2,000 locations.

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Beauty retail will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.