Genius AI hits $1.15bn valuation on $44m raise
Salon software provider GlossGenius has rebranded as Genius AI and secured a $44 million funding round that values the business at $1.15 billion, signalling venture capital's growing appetite for AI tools designed to automate small service businesses.
GlossGenius has closed a $44 million Series D round led by Lux Capital, reaching a $1.15 billion valuation as it rebrands to Genius AI. The company is pivoting from its roots as a booking and payments platform for beauty salons to build AI-powered operating software for a much wider range of service providers.
The round brings total capital raised to over $120 million since the company was founded a decade ago by twin sisters Danielle and Leah Cohen-Shohet. Genius AI has reached an annual revenue run-rate nearing $200 million, a figure that now exceeds its lifetime fundraising. The 400-employee company currently serves 125,000 businesses and facilitates $7 billion in annual sales.
The strategic shift targets what chief executive Danielle Cohen-Shohet describes as “health-adjacent” verticals, expanding into med spas, physical therapy, and fitness centres. The platform is already HIPAA-compliant, and Cohen-Shohet indicated the company may eventually move directly into the broader healthcare sector. “I don’t see why the opportunity can’t extend to that,” she said.
This investment reflects a wider movement among venture capitalists to fund agentic software for solo practitioners and small business owners. Running an independent business typically involves heavy administrative burdens that deter potential founders. This is a particular barrier for women, who start roughly half of new US businesses but frequently fail to scale.
Genius AI faces emerging competition in this category, such as Corner Health, which recently raised $25 million to build AI-run operations for nurse practitioners. However, Leah Cohen-Shohet argued the company's existing user base provides a critical data advantage. “We’ve been serving these businesses, we understand these workflows and their pain points really deeply,” she said.
Danielle Cohen-Shohet contended that small, owner-operated businesses are better positioned to adopt AI than large enterprises, which often struggle with fragmented technology strategies. “It’s much easier for businesses that are smaller in scale to gather a lot of the context and have AI start to make them much, much more productive,” she said.
