SkinSpirit, the medical beauty services provider, has gained a recent investor.

Private equity giant KKR has taken a minority stake in the corporate. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, though a joint statement from each parties described the investment as “notable.” GreyLion, the firm that took a stake in SkinSpirit in 2018, will remain a minority owner within the business.

SkinSpirit was founded in 2003 and has taken a measured approach to expansion, one which will probably be bolstered by the infusion from KKR.

“We can have opened nine or 10 locations in 2022, and we plan to remain on that pace,” said Lynn Heublein, the corporate’s cofounder and chief executive officer. “The investment will allow us to proceed at that pace and maintain our quality, but additionally gives us the flexibility to be sure we’re training people appropriately, that we’re bringing in recent services and products, and that we will do this with confidence even when it’s a choppy environment economically for the subsequent 12 months or two.”

Heublein credited that emphasis on quality of experience as a key differentiator, along with its service offering. “We’re just a little different than an organization like Ideal Image or Lasers Away who focus initially on laser hair removal or body sculpting,” she said. “We actually deal with facial aesthetics and rejuvenation. We’re the most important provider of Botox and filler within the country because that’s our roots, and that’s where we began.”

Though the pandemic hampered growth in 2020, Heublein said interest reached a fever pitch last 12 months, from each consumers and investors alike.

“Aesthetics really benefited after the dust settled in 2021, and the aesthetics category had considered one of the most important growth years on the record in 2021,” she said. “We had been operating the business for 19 years, and I’d never seen as much investor interest within the category as there’s at once. Since it’s very fragmented, there’s opportunity for somebody to emerge because the provider of selection for people who find themselves in search of a high level of experience and artistry from their medical aesthetics provider.”

And med-spa types have been raising money to compete: medical spa marketplace Upkeep closed a seed round earlier this week to the tune of $2 million; last 12 months, Ever/Body closed a $38 million series B.

SkinSpirit’s current service offerings span injectable neuromodulators and dermal fillers, in addition to a wide range of microneedling techniques, lasers and body treatments.

“To get probably the most natural results, you have got to have really healthy skin, you possibly can’t just get injections,” Heublein said. “We attempt to deal with a full spectrum of services mandatory for the best-looking skin.”

On KKR’s end, SkinSpirit touches a number of different areas of interest. “From a health care standpoint, lots of what we do is partner with our other teams — we partner with retail and consumer, we partner with tech,” said Ali Satvat, partner at KKR and global head of KKR health care strategic growth. “There’s a health aspect to what [SkinSpirit does], and a retail and consumer aspect to what they do. We get to bring one of the best of the learnings from the firm.”

The medical aesthetics space, Satvat said, has been a priority for KKR, only boosted by the channel’s performance. “The view is it’s an area that ought to grow, it’s an area we’ve been following the expansion of. One in all the drivers is the increasing economic power of ladies, and increasing spend of beauty and wellness.…Once you have a look at market leadership within the space on the medical aesthetics side, you chop it down in a short time to SkinSpirit.”