Fresha, a beauty and wellness software platform, has received a $100 million series C investment led by General Atlantic with strategic participation from Huda Kattan of HB Investments and founder of Huda Beauty, as well as Michael Zeisser of FMZ Ventures, former chairman investments at Alibaba Group and Jonathan Green of Lugard Road Capital.
Fresha offers salons, spas and barbershops management software that can facilitate the acceptance of online appointment bookings, process card payments and manage customer records, along with automation for marketing, staffing, product inventory and accounting.
With the new funds, Fresha will broaden its global community of partner salons and spas, scale product development, deepen its marketplace bookings and pursue strategic M&A.
Fresha’s existing global investors Partech, Target Global and FJ Labs have also participated in the round, bringing the company’s total fundraising to $132 million to date.
Fresha founder and CEO William Zeqiri said, “From the day we founded Fresha, our core focus has been on offering a solution that delights our customers. That drive has continued to direct our feature development and long-term vision. The rapid growth we’re seeing comes down to having happy customers that love using Fresha. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition across the globe to online bookings and integrated card payments, now seen as essential to run any modern salon or spa. In May 2021, Fresha saw a thirty-fold increase in the volume of card payments processed on the platform compared to a year earlier.”
Nick Miller, Fresha co-founder and chief of product, said, “Legacy software offerings for beauty and wellness businesses are often expensive to purchase and difficult to use. Salons face obstacles with inefficient scheduling, resulting in low occupancy and lost sales. More than ever, beauty and wellness businesses are opting to grow sales by leveraging tools to facilitate online payments, self-service bookings and automated marketing initiatives. Fresha’s technology optimizes appointment bookings with real-time online availability and boosts local discovery, helping partner salons grow sales."
Aaron Goldman, global co-head of financial services and managing director at General Atlantic, said, “Fresha has emerged as a leader powering the beauty and wellness industry. William, Nick and the Fresha team have built a product that is resonating with the market and creating long-term value through the intersection of its payments, software and marketplace offerings. We are thrilled to be partnering with the company and believe Fresha has significant opportunity to further scale its innovative platform.”
