Former head of search for Europe at Yahoo Salim Mitha and ex-MD of European Lifestyle at Lastminute.com Lopo Champalimaud set up wellness directory Wahanda.com in February 2008. They raised £1.4m from top-notch investors a year later and tell us why they are fast becoming the go-to site for wellness treatments and therapies in the UK and US.

What’s the concept?
Wahanda.com is a directory of more than 10,000 spas, salons, gyms, studios, therapists and wellness businesses. The community ensures the best providers bubble to the top. We then connect users to the business. Find, share, connect. Basic listings are free and we charge for premium profiles. Anything sold on the site we take a commission, including Wahanda vouchers, which can be redeemed in almost 500 locations.

Why’s it unique?
This depth of content has never been concentrated in one place, which makes it really powerful. The industry is not entirely comfortable with the internet, but we keep things super simple. As a result, lots of practitioners are ditching websites for Wahanda. The sites in the space at the moment include ones that are only focused on spas and are not directories; the leading one sells vouchers for 300 locations, whereas we have 4,500.

Where are you now?
We’re on track and were named one of the top 10 beauty sites in Elle magazine. In terms of the vision though we’re less than 20% of where we want to be. We’re getting around 150,000 unique users a month typically, but three to four times that in December as we’re running our Advent Calendar, giving away a prize each day with £10,000 worth of spa breaks, prizes and other offers.

Where will you be in two years?
Hopefully in more countries. We’re trying to build a brand and want Wahanda to be synonymous with wellbeing.

Who’s backed you?
Ambient Sounds Investments, a fund founded by the former Skype technology team; Stefan Glaenzer, an angel investor and the former chairman of Last.fm Wolf Hengst, the former president and COO of Four Seasons; Brent Hoberman of MyDeco and PROfounders Capital; and Jonnie Goodwin of Jefferies and PROfounders Capital.

How much did you get?
£1.4m.

When did you raise it?
February 2009.

How long before the cheque cleared?
We were going to acquire a business in November but at the last minute they decided not to sell, which turned out to be the best thing. We went back to the investors and they thought it was a great opportunity, so having got commitments in December we closed the funding round soon after.

What did it teach you?
It’s important to have investors you like and respect, and who bring value to the table. There’s a lot of money out there and it’s a time consuming process. You can learn a lot from rejection. It makes you think about what you’re doing and we made the business stronger. The other thing was we didn’t go to them and say ‘we want your money’, we asked if they’d look at our five-page summary and tell us what they thought, which is a really good way to assess interest.

How has the money improved the business?
The dynamic between the investors at board meetings is great. Brent brings leisure, hospitality and technology experience. ASI are strong on engineering and technology. And Wolf knows leisure inside out.

Tell us something that would help another entrepreneur keep an investor happy?
Communication is key. We provide monthly and quarterly reports, with an appraisal of what we’re thinking. Investors want to be helpful, so when we think they can be we get in touch. Nobody likes a bad surprise. Present any problems and what you feel the solutions are and then have a productive debate.

Why should we keep an eye on you?
What we’re building is really exciting. The market is immensely fragmented and dominated by single owner operations. But people spend twice as much on spa treatments ($60bn) as they do film and music combined.

It's not breaking new territory to point out that the internet makes geographical boundaries irrelevant, meaning things like shopping can be done from the other side of the country, or even planet. But it is worth pointing out that it also means other, more unlikely services, can be carried out online. Like physiotherapy.

"A large proportion of injuries don't need hands no treatment - you can self-manage your injuries", says qualified accountant Martyn Hodgson, who co-founded Physiobench with his wife Jane, a physio, and Chris Hodgson (website design and development) last year. "Some people with injuries struggle to access physio, due to geography or cost", qualifies Jane. "This is offering a service to those confident enough to manage it."

For £28, those requiring a physio's expert advice get an initial assessment and exercise recommendations, as well as a follow up three months down the line - a considerable saving. But the couple at the helm insist that not
only is their service cheaper, it's as good or better as more traditional practices - and with Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Leeds United FC, Dance UK, and the Great Britain National Cycling Team amongst the
freelance physios' regular employers, one is inclined to give this view some credence. Jane also stresses the improvement they offer on the NHS's phone-based PhysioDirect. "I'd been involved there myself", she says.

"People calling up might have to put the phone down sometimes. You've more time to answer the questions online." Furthermore, says Jane, the NHS themselves might soon be interested in working with this new
E-mail based system, which the Hodgsons feel fits with the 'ministerial push' for more outsourcing of government services.

And while they came up with the idea a few years ago, time was taken to perfect the site and the physio questionnaire of such importance. The company has been entirely self-funded, although they may look at funding options as and when the company expands. Yet 'much can be subcontracted', thus keeping costs down, says Martyn. And the couple insist there's room for themselves as well as traditional practices. "We're not competing with traditional physios, we're an adjunct." says Jane. Plus, says Mark, "A lot of men can't be bothered to go to the doctor's or to a physio - we're taking the hassle factor out of it, and hopefully increasing the amount of people seeing physios altogether"

‘We’re creating the natural category in the male grooming space’, says Simon Duffy of Bulldog, a young company with a rapid growth rate already under its belts.

According to Duffy, the things that make the product stand out are the branding, which is directed at men – unlike other male grooming products which feel like an afterthought of the female-geared brands –and the natural ingredients. ‘People need to avoid certain chemicals getting in to their bodies. When you step back, you think ‘perhaps I don’t want that stuff in me. There really is a tangible difference in the ingredients.’ And the pair certainly have seemed to have struck on a gap in the market. ‘Organic food started as niche, and now it’s mainstream’, says Duffy.

The idea for the brand came in 2005, when founders Duffy and Rhodri Ferrier were shopping in an organic supermarket in New York, back in 2005. ‘We were in Wholefoods trying to live a healthier lifestyle, and we saw that in the personal care aisle there was really nothing specifically for men.’ Just two years later, the products, which include shower and face washes, shave gels and skincare, were being stocked in Sainsbury’s. The account base now includes Superdrug, Waitrose, Debenhams and several natural products stores.

As for funding, the pair initially wanted to find 24 people to put in £50,000 each. Working their way through colleagues, friends, and associates of both (it helped to have Duffy experienced in branding and Ferrier well-connected on Wall St.), the pair raised £1.2m over an ‘intense’ 10 months. ‘We benefited from people we knew who we thought might be interested. We were passed around a bit but were lucky to come across some great investors’, Duffy says. They quit their day jobs in spring 2006, and haven’t looked back since.

So will the meteoric rise to a healthy and clean future continue? Sure, says Duffy. ‘We’re determined to prove this natural category is viable and sustainable in the UK.’