Beauty mogul Huda Kattan taps into beauty tech by backing Fresha, the leading salon and spa booking platform

LONDON, June 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Huda Kattan, founder of self-made cosmetics empire Huda Beauty and chairwoman of HB Investments, today shared the inspiration behind her investment in Fresha, the world's top beauty and wellness booking system. Huda's recent backing of the company marks a powerful joining of forces between the beauty industry's leading technology platform and one of the world's most successful beauty entrepreneurs.

Each month, people use Fresha to discover, book and pay for tens of millions of beauty and wellness appointments with local businesses via its marketplace. 50,000 partner salons, spas and barbershops leverage Fresha to manage their operations with its intuitive, subscription-free business software. The Fresha 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, along with smart automations for marketing, staffing, product inventory and accounting, all in one place. Fresha is the world's only platform that offers free-to-use, fully-featured booking and point of sale software for salons and spas.

Huda Kattan, who built a multi-billion-dollar cosmetics brand by candidly sharing her passion for beauty via her Instagram account — now 48 million followers strong — saw vast potential for Fresha. "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," said Huda Kattan.

"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," said Fresha Founder and CEO William Zeqiri. "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. 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". Fresha Co-Founder Nick Miller added "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."

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. Huda Kattan participated through HB Investments, the private investment office of the founders of Huda Beauty, of which Huda Kattan is Chairwoman and her sister, Mona Kattan, is the President. "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," says Mona Kattan.

Karan Wats, CEO of HB Investments said, "The team at Fresha has done an incredible job at building a phenomenal business. General Atlantic's investment will help accelerate the company's growth and cement its industry-leading position."

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. For three years running, Fresha 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.

About Fresha

Fresha is a leading global beauty and wellness platform. Each month, tens of millions of appointments are discovered, booked and paid with partner salons, spas and barbershops on Fresha. 50,000 partner venues in over 120 countries use the platform to manage their operations with Fresha's intuitive, full-spectrum, subscription-free business software. Fresha transforms beauty and wellness business operations by enabling the acceptance of online appointment bookings, processing of card payments and managing customer records, along with automations for marketing, staffing, product inventory and accounting, all in one place. Launched in 2015 originally under the name Shedul, the company rebranded to Fresha in 2020. For more information, visit www.fresha.com, download Fresha on the App Store and Google Play or follow Fresha on Facebook and Instagram.

About HB Investments

HB Investments (HBI) is the private investment office of the founders of Huda Beauty: Huda (Chairwoman), Mona (President), Alya Kattan, Christopher Goncalo and is led by CEO Karan Wats. HBI invests in visionary entrepreneurs that share a common desire to build world-class consumer brands while creating meaningful impact; We pair our entrepreneurs with a brand building, marketing, PR and distribution ecosystem to help them unleash their magic. Going beyond traditional investment partnerships, HBI also runs a comprehensive incubator program called HB Angels, which provides seed funding and a brand-building ecosystem to a carefully selected group of in-house entrepreneurs. With a robust team of top marketing, PR, operations and supply chain talent, HBI is co-creating businesses that can change the world for the better. For more information on HB Investments, please visit the website: https://hbinvestments.com/.

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