SignalFire leads $15.7M for Moxie to help nurses launch med spas

Ten percent of all Americans have received injectables—a.k.a. wrinkle-relaxers or fillers—and that’s expected to grow to 15–20% in the next few years. It’s no surprise given the “Zoom face” experience, as people became more self-conscious from staring at their own face on video chats. There’s also the explosive popularity of TikTok’s aging filter, which dermatologists say accurately (and frighteningly) predicts how your skin will evolve with age.

People’s increased focus on looking and feeling their best has led to a surge in demand for med spas (short for “medical spas,” or spas operated by licensed medical professionals). They offer aesthetic services like facials, wrinkle-relaxers (Dysport, Botox, Xeomin), fillers, IV hydration, and laser treatments in a regulated environment. But there’s a shortage of med spas because they’re expensive, slow, and complicated to launch.

That’s why we’re excited to be leading Moxie’s $11.9M Series A on top of an existing unannounced $3.8m seed round led by Boulton & Watt. Moxie empowers independent medical professionals to start their own medical spas. An end-to-end software and services suite, Moxie helps nurse practitioners and physician assistants launch, grow, and maintain their own practices.

Moxie is scaling at the perfect time. Healthcare workers are extremely burned out after the COVID-19 pandemic, and nurses and physician assistants have been hit hardest. Overworked and underpaid, these healthcare workers are seeking greater work-life balance, income, autonomy, and control of their own destiny. About 30% of nurses are looking to leave their current professions, and they’re leaving to start med spas, which regulations require to employ nurses or physician assistants.

Opening a med spa through Moxie offers self-directed flexibility and financial opportunity, while allowing a practitioner to continue making an impact by helping people’s wellness. Moxie has already empowered hundreds of med spa practitioners to become entrepreneurs: 95% are women, ~50% are women of color, and the majority had never started a business before working with Moxie.

How Moxie helps

Normally, opening a med spa would require someone to hire a medical director, spend over $15K on regulatory compliance, buy a bundle of outdated software solutions (electronic health record system / practice management, payments, scheduling, CRM, etc.), and hire help with marketing, bookkeeping, reception, and pharmaceutical procurement.

Moxie handles all these steps with its “business in a box” solution. Moxie-equipped med spas open more than twice as fast for a fraction of the cost compared to industry benchmarks, and most owners are earning just as much as full-time nurses while working half the hours. Once a med spa launches, Moxie’s business model puts practitioners first by only making money when they do, while allowing them to focus on their patients instead of repetitive back-office tasks.

Why Moxie is winning: Comprehensive vertical SaaS for the fast-growing med spa industry

Our team at SignalFire spotted the med spa trend early and saw a major opportunity, given the macro demand/supply tailwinds and massive total addressable market that is projected to grow to $50 billion annually by 2030. From our deep experience investing in vertical SaaS companies, we believe that owning the entire business productivity/software stack is key to being a market leader.

We canvassed the industry, speaking to a wide range of startups, and found Moxie to be the most comprehensive end-to-end solution in the market. Moxie was founded by Dan Friedman (former president/co-founder of Thinkful, sold to Chegg) and Sam Gerstenzang (former senior product director at Stripe) from Boulton & Watt, an incubator focused on vertical SaaS to unlock economic opportunity for others. The idea emerged when one of Dan’s good friends wanted to start a med spa but faced several hurdles and costs—and nowhere to turn for support.

With a strong, product-obsessed team, rapid growth, exceptional platform, and clear ROI for practitioners, we believe Moxie is on its way to revolutionizing the growing med spa industry. Testimonials from Moxie’s customers support our thesis around the need for financial empowerment for medical professionals.

One customer got emotional as she shared her story and emphasized: “Moxie helped change my life. I’m finally able to live after getting burned out at the hospital.”

Why Moxie chose SignalFire

With rapid early growth and a powerhouse team, Moxie had its choice of investors. The founders say they chose SignalFire because of its proprietary AI recruiting platform, Beacon, which tracks 650 million people and 80 million companies to help them scale their team and target nurses, and the deep health expertise in our Executive-in-Residence Program:

"We chose to work with SignalFire because of their experience as operators and their deep network of advisors across recruiting, marketing, and more. Since we’ve begun working with them, their responsiveness and followthrough has been second to none—allowing us to build Moxie faster with a trusted partner."

—Dan Friedman and Sam Gerstenzang, Co-founders of Moxie*, SignalFire Portfolio Company

To provide continued value post-investment, SignalFire has partnered with seasoned vertical SaaS operator David Klements as part of our unique Executive-in-Residence (XIR) strategy. The XIR program pairs tech industry leaders from SignalFire’s advisor network with high-potential portfolio companies to help accelerate their growth. David Klements scaled Qualifacts (the leading SMB-focused mental health electronic health record) to over $100 million in revenue as co-founder and former CEO. David is excited to join Moxie’s board as an independent member:

"I’m thrilled to partner with the entire Moxie team on their journey to empower nurse entrepreneurs to build highly successful med spa businesses."

—David Klements, Executive in Residence**

SignalFire General Partner Chris Scoggins, who scaled Datalogix to its $1.2 billion exit to Oracle is also joining Moxie’s board:

"We invested because of the size of the opportunity, the quality of the team and its execution, and the comprehensiveness of the solution. In just one year, Moxie became the leader in its category."

—Chris Scoggins, General Partner, SignalFire

What’s next?

We’re excited for Moxie’s next phase of growth, as the Series A investment will help drive expansion to new states and expand service offerings. If you are a nurse interested in aesthetics, we encourage you to check out Moxie, as they may be in your state and ready to help get your med spa off the ground. Everyone deserves to feel confident in their own skin and find a job they love, and Moxie provides both!

Also, Moxie is hiring! If you’re interested in building with a rising vertical SaaS leader, reach out.

* Portfolio Company Endorsements: Certain portfolio company founders listed above have not received any compensation for this feedback and did not invest in a SignalFire fund. Please refer to our website for additional disclosures.

** SignalFire may engage Executives in Residence, Affiliate Advisors, Retained Advisors, and other consultants as listed above to provide their expertise on a formal or ad hoc basis. They are not employed by SignalFire and do not provide investment advisory services to clients on behalf of SignalFire. For more information on their specific roles, please contact us.