Yinka Ogunbiyi, a Nigerian-American biomechanical engineer and Harvard graduate, raised $7 million in seed funding to bring to market her new braided hair-assistant robot called HaloBraid. It could make the process of braiding Black hair significantly faster and cut out the heavy physical strain that can result in carpal tunnel syndrome for stylists, helping salon’s offer better throughputs to more clients.
The financing round was led by Alexis Ohanian’s venture firm Seven Seven Six and also backed by AlleyCorp and Bling Capital.
Funding will fuel product development, manufacturing, salon partnerships and the broader market introduction of the technology. While HaloBraid is an assist device rather than a complete braider replacement, it is capable of automating a portion of the intricate task.
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Professional hairstylists will hand part hair for a client and begin braiding at the base (a.k.a., the “foundation and anchor knot”), at which point the robot intervenes to do the weaving through the rest of the hair shaft – typically the part that creates the most physically repetitive movement in many modern styles like knotless braids. Professional braiders then trim and finish each braided section.
Ogunbiyi estimates the system can shave half the time off braiding appointments at hair salons, allowing a more rapid cycle time for individual appointments and even increasing the amount a braider could take in a day.
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Inspired during the pandemic when spent four days braiding her own knotless hair over an extended break from work, Ogunbiyi’s experience highlighted both the physical toll and the dearth of technological advancements within the textured hair ecosystem.
This inspired her to collaborate with engineer David Afolabi to build a better support system for braiders. HaloBraid is specifically designed to tackle the chronic occupational health problems faced by the hair stylist industry that includes: High rates of carpal tunnel syndrome, shoulder and wrist injuries, back pain, arthritis due to the repeated motions of hands across a clients scalp over a period of years.
By handing off the most repetitive midshaft work, Ogunbiyi hopes to offer both much needed physical relief while potentially extending the longevity of braiders in their field. Early adoption has already shown potential, as HaloBraid reports over 7,000 hair salons have already signed up on the waiting list. Company data suggests that 95% of Black women asked would get protective hairstyles more frequently if it took up less of their salon’s time.
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Ogunbiyi holds both an Master of Science in Engineering and an MBA from Harvard.
HaloBraid is “the first step towards leveraging technology to make textured hair more accessible,” said the founder, who plans to innovate further in the areas of beauty care technologies. “With this funding, we’ll focus on bringing the device to thousands of salons and scaling the business in this underserved multi-billion dollar market.”
Industry observers note the financing reflects rising confidence in the viability of innovations within Black beauty.
