Beauty / news brief
Halo Raises $7M to Launch Automated Braiding Assistant HaloBraid
Halo secured $7 million in seed funding to launch HaloBraid, an automated braiding assistant that aims to cut appointment times in half and expand access to braiding services.
The seed round was led by Alexis Ohanian's venture capital firm 776, with participation from Bling Capital and AlleyCorp. The funding will support the rollout of HaloBraid, which automates part of the braiding process.
HaloBraid is designed to help stylists complete braids in roughly half the usual time, reducing physical strain on workers and long wait times for clients. The device is positioned as a productivity tool that can increase salon throughput.
Hair braiding represents an estimated $11 billion global market. In the United States alone, there are over 1 million hair-braiding salons, with millions of appointments booked annually. Despite this scale, the category has seen little technological innovation.
Founder Yinka Ogunbiyi noted that beauty technology has largely concentrated on skincare, haircare, and wellness diagnostics over the past decade, leaving braiding, a highly manual service, largely unchanged. HaloBraid aims to bridge that gap.
The investment reflects growing venture capital interest in underserved segments of the beauty industry, particularly those that combine technology with labor-intensive salon services.