What GroomSlot does

GroomSlot is a cloud-based SaaS booking, scheduling, and client-management platform purpose-built for UK dog groomers, operated by founder Alex Cox as a sole trader out of Brighton. The product combines 24/7 online booking, automated multi-channel reminders (WhatsApp-first with SMS and email fallback), no-show protection via deposits and card-on-file, digital pet profiles with vaccination records, client retention tooling including overdue rebooking, and intelligent route planning that clusters bookings, enforces service radius and travel time, and hands routes off to Google Maps for mobile groomers.

The underlying stack is a modern cloud-native architecture: Supabase for data, Vercel for hosting, Resend for email, ClickSend for SMS fallback, WhatsApp Business Platform for primary messaging, and Stripe, Square, SumUp, and Lopay for payment processing. The product is offered as a single all-inclusive plan at £24/month (or £180/year discounted for groomers within 12 months of qualification) with 30-day free trial and no credit card required. Feature differentiators versus generic salon software are domain specialisation, WhatsApp-first messaging guarantee, and mobile-groomer-specific route clustering.

GroomSlot serves two primary segments — fixed-location UK dog grooming salons and UK-based mobile dog groomers — with a secondary persona segment of newly qualified groomers. Go-to-market is product-led/self-serve, driven by SEO, content marketing, comparison pages against Topline Dogs, Tuft, ShakeYourTail, Savvy, MoeGo, and Fresha, social presence on Facebook and Instagram, email automation, and client referral codes. Free tools (Dog Grooming Price List Generator, Mobile Grooming Savings Calculator) act as top-of-funnel lead magnets. The company is bootstrapped, privately held, has no disclosed external funding, and currently serves 100+ grooming businesses across the UK and Ireland.

Name

GroomSlot

Legal name

GroomSlot (operated by Alex Cox as sole trader)

Website

https://groomslot.co.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

GroomSlot is a Brighton-based SaaS platform providing online booking, automated reminders, route planning, and payment processing software built specifically for UK dog grooming salons and mobile groomers, operated by founder Alex Cox as a sole trader.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brighton

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Subscription - Single Plan: Monthly subscription at £24/month or £180/year for newly qualified groomers. All features included. Includes 150 SMS/WhatsApp messages per month with optional top-ups. No per-transaction fees on deposits.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

GroomSlot provides a single all-inclusive cloud-based SaaS subscription (£24/month or £180/year) that gives UK dog groomers — both fixed salons and mobile operators — 24/7 online booking, WhatsApp-first automated reminders with SMS fallback, deposits and no-show protection, integrated payments via Stripe/Square/SumUp/Lopay, intelligent route planning with Google Maps, and digital pet/client records. The product is sold as one plan with no tiered add-ons, plus free standalone tools (a Dog Grooming Price List Generator and a Mobile Grooming Savings Calculator).

Product overview

GroomSlot is a unified cloud-based SaaS platform for UK dog groomers combining online booking, automated multi-channel reminders (WhatsApp/SMS/email), intelligent route planning for mobile groomers, digital pet records, client retention tools, and integrated payment processing (Stripe, Square, SumUp, Lopay). The core platform is offered as a single plan at £24/month, with free tools including a Price List Generator and Mobile Grooming Savings Calculator. Built specifically for UK dog groomers (not generic service businesses) with UK-based support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• GroomSlot Core Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduce no-shows by up to 80% with automated WhatsApp/SMS/email reminders
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary payment processor for deposits, card-on-file storage, and balance collection. Integrates for secure online payments and instant payouts.
• SquarecoreTechnology or IntegrationAlternative payment processor for in-person and online payments, offering card processing alongside Stripe.
• SumUpcoreTechnology or IntegrationAlternative payment processor popular with mobile groomers, providing affordable portable card readers for on-the-road payments.
• LopaycoreTechnology or IntegrationAdditional payment provider option integrated for deposits and payment processing.
• WhatsApp Business PlatformcoreTechnology or IntegrationPrimary messaging channel for automated reminders with WhatsApp-first delivery system. Fallback to SMS if WhatsApp delivery fails.
• ClickSendsupportingTechnology or IntegrationSMS delivery provider for fallback messaging when WhatsApp is unavailable.
• SupabasesupportingTechnology or IntegrationDatabase infrastructure provider for cloud-based data storage.
• VercelsupportingTechnology or IntegrationHosting and application infrastructure for the platform.
• ResendsupportingTechnology or IntegrationEmail delivery provider for automated booking confirmations and reminders.
• Google MapscoreTechnology or IntegrationRoute visualization and navigation integration for mobile groomers. One-tap navigation to open optimized multi-stop routes.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• MoeGo: MoeGo is a vertical SaaS platform for pet groomers covering booking, client management, mobile routing, and payments. It is GroomSlot's most direct international peer and is explicitly named in GroomSlot's comparison content.
• Fresha: Fresha is a well-capitalized beauty and wellness booking and payments SaaS used by salons and self-employed providers. Named by GroomSlot as a competitor, with overlapping booking, reminder, and payment-processing features even though its grooming focus is lighter.
• Time To Pet: Time To Pet is a SaaS platform for pet-care businesses (dog walkers, pet sitters, groomers) offering scheduling, client/pet profiles, invoicing, and mobile-app workflows. It targets the same vertical with comparable booking and client-management functionality.
• PetDesk: PetDesk is a SaaS platform for veterinary and pet-care businesses offering appointment booking, reminders, client communication, and loyalty tools. Overlaps with GroomSlot on client communication and booking for pet-services SMBs.
• SimplyBook.me: SimplyBook.me is a vertical-friendly booking SaaS widely used by salons, spas, and mobile service providers. It competes with GroomSlot for UK grooming-business bookings, though it is not grooming-specific.
• Pawfinity: Pawfinity is a SaaS platform for pet-care businesses combining booking, client communication, and pet profiles. It is a comparable vertical SaaS peer to GroomSlot in the pet-services SMB market.

Broad incumbents

• Square Appointments: Square Appointments is a broad scheduling and payments SaaS from Block targeting SMB service businesses including salons and mobile operators. It overlaps with GroomSlot on booking and payments but lacks grooming-specific workflow features.
• Acuity Scheduling: Acuity Scheduling is a Squarespace-owned appointment-booking SaaS for service businesses. It competes at the generic-booking layer with GroomSlot but does not offer grooming-specific features like pet profiles or mobile route planning.
• Calendly: Calendly is a general-purpose scheduling SaaS used across many service verticals. While not grooming-specific, it overlaps at the booking/reminder layer and is a likely substitute for very small grooming businesses.
• Boulevard: Boulevard is a higher-end salon and spa booking/payments SaaS with strong client-management tooling. It competes with GroomSlot for premium grooming-salon customers, though it lacks mobile-groomer route planning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• Instagraminstagram.com/groomslotuk

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about GroomSlot