She’s managed to build a multi-billion-dollar cosmetics brand, so when Huda Kattan decides to invest in something it’s time to sit up extremely straight and listen. The boundary-breaking Iraqi-American Co-Founder of cosmetics empire Huda Beauty and chairwoman of HB Investments, the private investment office of the founders of Huda Beauty, has decided to back Fresha. And she has shared the inspiration behind her investment and the reasons she saw tons of potential for the world’s top beauty and wellness booking system.
To protect her 267 employees, Huda Kattan will not be receiving her salary for the rest of the year.#hudabeautyhttps://t.co/n2RjcdPQ3Z
— About Her (@AboutHerOFCL) April 11, 2020
“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,” Kattan, who has a 48 million-strong following on Instagram, said. “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.”
Fresha’s Co-Founder, Nick Miller, also made it clear the company is excited to be associated with Kattan. “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,” he said.
The recent investment was part of a larger $100 million financing for Fresha, led by New York-based growth equity firm General Atlantic, backers of tech giants such as Facebook, Snap and Airbnb, and Kattan participated through HB Investments.
“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,” sister Mona Kattan, the President of HB Investments, said.
The move by Kattan sees a powerful joining of forces between the beauty industry’s leading technology platform and one of the world’s most successful beauty entrepreneurs. And there are plenty of thrilling opportunities for them to work together, “particularly in the space of beauty product ecommerce,” according to Fresha Founder and CEO William Zeqiri.
About Fresha
Each month, beauty enthusiasts use Fresha, a premium booking and payment experience, to discover, book and pay for tens of millions of beauty and wellness appointments with local businesses via its marketplace. Meanwhile the 50,000 partner salons, spas and barbershops in over 120 countries rely on the platform for its ease of use, time-saving benefits and embedded features to grow sales. Fresha manages its operations via its intuitive, full-spectrum, subscription-free business software.
Launched in 2015 originally under the name Shedul, the platform removes key pain points often encountered by service-based businesses, by simplifying the acceptance of online appointment bookings, processing of card payments and management of customer records. Fresha, which has come out on top with independent ratings by software users as the most popular, most affordable and most user-friendly system for salons and spas for three years running, also offers smart automations for marketing, staffing, product inventory and accounting. Additionally, mobile apps and direct integrations to Instagram, Facebook and Google "bring local businesses closer to where customers increasingly are; online,” as Miller described.
