Danielle Cohen-Shohet might have started as a Goldman Sachs investment analyst, but at her core she was always a coder.
After about three years at Goldman Sachs, Cohen-Shohet left the world of traditional finance to code her way into starting her own company in 2016.
"There was a period of time where I did nothing, but eat, sleep, and code for a few weeks," Cohen-Shohet told Insider.
Her technical edge and knowledge of the point-of-sale payment space led her to launch a software company focused on providing behind-the-scenes tech for beauty and wellness small businesses.
Cohen-Shohet launched GlossGenius in 2017 to provide payments tech for hair stylists, nail technicians, blow-out bars, and other small businesses in the space.
The upstart offers "a gateway for entrepreneurship" by providing back-office software for payments and accounting, marketing, client relationship management, and scheduling, Cohen-Shohet said. The card readers, for example, allow businesses to track transactions, standardize data, and categorize expenses, while tracking client visits, history, and revenue.
"Anything you could think about in a business owner's back office, we're centralizing for them right through the software platform," Cohen-Shohet said.
GlossGenius currently leverages Stripe for payments, but the workflows, marketing, and digital presence are built in-house, she added.
With tens of thousands of customers and a team north of 100, Cohen-Shohet said she is focused on refining her product-set to allow for more customization, like those around specific business workflows and what information is shared with specific team members.
The upstart is on track to surpass $1 billion in merchandise sold via the software since 2017, and has brought on more customers in 2021 than the previous years combined.
The New York-based startup cinched a $16 million Series A announced on November 16 that included backing from a number of high-profile tech executives. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Shopify CEO and co-founder Tobias Lutke, Toast CEO Chris Comparato and co-founder Aman Narang, and Mindbody co-founder Robert Murphy.
GlossGenius has raised $19.2 million to date.
