Huda Kattan, founder of Huda Beauty, has invested in Fresha salon booking software and app via private investment fund HB Investments. Kattan, one of the original beauty influencers turned brand founders, created Huda Beauty in 2013 after leaving a job in finance to become a makeup artist and beauty blogger in 2010. That’s when she and her two sisters launched a range of false eyelashes and her established social presence and popularity skyrocketed the brand to near-instant success, with several dozen SKUs and annual revenue in the hundreds of millions. She has nearly 50 million followers on Instagram (nearly double the entire Australian population), and created investment fund HB Investments in 2017, which looks set to delve into the world of beauty tech with a round of funding sunk into London-based Fresha.
This funding round for Fresha, in which HB Investments participated, closed with $100 million in financing, led by New York-based General Atlantic, who have invested in tech giants like Facebook, Snap and Airbnb. Kattan is Chairwoman of HB Investments and her sister, Mona Kattan, is the President. “Fresha is a win-win solution for both customers and service-based businesses. It’s supercharging businesses by allowing them to manage, track and grow in the fastest way possible, all subscription-free. For customers, it’s a simple and easy platform to discover and book services. The potential for this platform is limitless,” says Mona Kattan.
According to TechCrunch, Fresh has nearly 50,000 business customers (partner salons, spas, barbershops and more) and approximately 150,000 stylists and professionals on its platform, across 120+ countries with tens of millions of beauty and wellness appointments booked each month. Fresha is a subscription-free salon booking software and app, and is the world’s only platform to offer free-to-use, fully featured booking and POS software for salons and spas. The company makes its revenue on booking commissions. It originally launched as Shedul six years ago and rebranded in 2020 as Fresha.
Huda Kattan saw vast potential for Fresha. “I’ve witnessed first-hand the positive impact Fresha has for beauty entrepreneurs. The company is a force for good in the growing community of beauty professionals around the globe, who are increasingly adopting a self-employed approach. By making top business software accessible without any subscription fees, Fresha lets professionals focus on what they do best — offering great experiences for their customers,” said Huda Kattan.
“We see plenty of exciting opportunities for Fresha to work together closely with Huda Kattan and her team, particularly in the space of beauty product ecommerce,” said Fresha Founder and CEO William Zeqiri. “The beauty industry is on the verge of a major transition online. Fresha is leading the way with free software for salons, barbershops and spas around the world. Our tools for online bookings and automated marketing, with mobile apps and direct integrations to Instagram, Facebook and Google bring local businesses closer to where customers increasingly are; online”. Fresha Co-Founder Nick Miller added “Huda Kattan’s wealth of industry experience, sheer passion for beauty, and inspirational story of entrepreneurship make her the perfect fit for Fresha. We are thrilled to be working together on new ways to leverage technology and unlock real value for beauty professionals and customers around the globe.”
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