Huda Kattan backs Fresha beauty booking platform

Beauty entrepreneur Huda Kattan has backed free salon and spa booking platform Fresha - as it seeks to extend its reach around the world and into the beauty e-commerce space.

Kattan’s backing of the platform, via her private investment office HB Investments, marked “a powerful joining of forces between the beauty industry's leading technology platform and one of the world's most successful beauty entrepreneurs,” Fresha said.

The platform allows customers to discover, book and pay for tens of millions of beauty and wellness appointments with more than 50,000 partner salons and spas around the world, who use its subscription-free software to manage their operations.

The platform also removes a number of other “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, along with smart automations for marketing, staffing, product inventory and accounting.

Commenting on the investment, Kattan, who founded the Huda Beauty empire, said: "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."

Fresha Founder and chief executive officer William Zeqiri added: "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."

"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.

“Fresha's partner businesses rely on the platform for its ease of use, time-saving benefits and embedded features to grow sales, while end consumers enjoy a premium booking and payment experience.

"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."

The backing from HB Investments was part of a larger $100 million financing for Fresha - led by New York-based growth equity firm General Atlantic.