Irish-founded aesthetic treatment brand Sisu Clinic has secured a $15 million (€14.5 million) venture debt facility as it seeks to continue to grow its business globally.
The facility is being provided by Menlo Park-based Structural Capital, which has also supported Noom, Manscaped and Beauty Counter. Sisu Clinics offer a variety of beauty and skin treatments.
“Structural Capital is excited to be working with Sisu Clinic and helping finance its plan for future growth,” said Kai Tse, co-founder and chief investment officer of Structural Capital “The company has crossed some key profitability milestones that will allow them to further accelerate their expansion plans.”
The company, which was founded by entrepreneur Pat Phelan along with doctors Brian and James Cotter in 2018, will continue to focus on the US, where it opened its first clinic in 2022. It now has Sisu clinics in New York, Miami, Houston and Fort Lauderdale.
Mr Phelan said the facility would give Sisu the company flexibility to grow, particularly in the New York area.
Sisu operates with a three-tier model that includes stand-alone clinics, malls and concessions. Mr Phelan pointed to the success of the company’s partnership with Harvey Nichols, which saw it open a Sisu location in the high-end retailer’s Dundrum store. Sisu is in talks to expand the partnership to other locations.
“We are talking to a number of US large retail brands about putting concessions in there, which would enable rapid scaling,” said Mr Phelan.
Backed by Greycroft, Bullpen and Montage Ventures, Sisu Clinic has raised $15 million in seed funding and private equity backing before the agreement of the debt facility. Sisu is also eyeing a new private equity raise later in 2025 to further grow the business.
“This is following the blueprint we set out,” said Dr James Cotter. “As we expand, it was always going to be a mixture of debt and equity. We are cognisant of the fact that the next significant raise for us is going to be private equity, most likely in 2025, so it made sense from a strategic point of view for us to do this a mixture of debt and equity.”
Sisu’s market is expanding too. Revenues at the company have grown by an average of 55 per cent per year, with the US and UK doubling between 2023 and 2024.
Dr Brian Cotter noted Sisu’s growth was outpacing that of the market. “The businesses are hugely cash generative,” he said. “From an investor perspective, you have the repeat rturn customer/patient who is increasing the volume of spend with it. When private equity look at this space, it is a pretty interesting business model. In the US, there is infinite scale in the number of clinic you can open up; you can put them wherever there is people.”
The company currently has 25 clinics between Ireland, the UK and the US, and employs 150 people.
- Sign up for the Business Today newsletter and get the latest business news and commentary in your inbox every weekday morning
- Opt in to Business push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our Inside Business podcast is published weekly – Find the latest episode here
