A startup which helps you become a makeup artist raises seed funding from Sequoia's Surge

• Vah Vah! has raised $1.85 million in seed round from Sequoia Capital India’s Surge.
• The company focuses on offering professional makeup and hairstyling courses.
• Each of these courses are about 22-days long and are taught by professionals.

Online vocational education company Vah Vah! on Tuesday, July 13, announced that it has raised $1.85 million in seed round from Sequoia Capital India’s accelerator programme Surge. The company focuses on offering professional makeup and hairstyling courses.

“The shortfall of vocational schools means that vocational training is often inaccessible or too costly for many – making it especially challenging for those who live outside of metropolitan areas looking to upskill themselves. With Vah Vah!, anyone with a mobile phone and an internet connection can now access quality vocational education,” said cofounder Shailesh Daxini.

Vah Vah! was founded by Daxini, Eashwar Subbiah and Akash Senapaty in October 2020. The company’s courses are offered in small batches and all the students are sent well-designed learning kits with all the material they need to complete the course. They also onboard experienced beauty industry professionals who undergo further training to teach on the platform.

Each of these courses are about 22-days long and are designed for those looking to build a career or run their own entrepreneurial service business. Vah Vah! Also offers career counselling, one-on-one question and answer round with the trainers.

The company claims that about 90% of its cohort are women, with an all-India representation. It will soon look to expand from makeup and hair styling into other vocational skill sets.

According to the National Skill Development Council of India, the beauty sector in India is expected to grow at 30% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and workforce requirements have doubled. “The majority of our students enrol with the ambition to learn new skills to create earning opportunities for themselves in the industry, so there is a real need in the market from both employees and employers for such services,” Subbiah has said.

Vah Vah! is part of Surge’s fifth cohort of 23 companies. Sequoia has invested about $55 million in this cohort, along with several co-investors. The cohort also includes 13 companies working in domains of fintech, payments, communications, logistics and Software as a Service (SaaS).

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