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Fresha, a provider of booking and payments technology for barbers and beauty-shop proprietors, said Friday its roster of barber clients has climbed 108% year-over-year, moving the company to claim number-one status among tech developers for the hair-care market.
The 11-year-old, London-based company, which supports hair-care shops and companies in the U.S. and Canada as well as Europe and Australia, says its growth comes as the barbershop business has grown increasingly sophisticated and entrepreneurial. This has led the company to launch AI to support clients’ business chores beyond payment processing. Its newly introduced AI Concierge responds to client calls barbers cutting hair can’t pick up right away, Fresha says, while also handling bookings, Fresha says.
“The growth we’re seeing reflects just how quickly these businesses are evolving,” said Fresha’s founder and chief executive, William Zeqiri, in a statement. “Seeing our active barber partners more than double in a year is incredibly exciting, but for us this is only the beginning.”
The growth seen so far has spurred Fresha to look to further its global expansion, the company says, with efforts to grow its foothold in North America. It says it now serves 140,000 businesses in more than 120 countries, with beauty and wellness shops included. Its online Fresha Marketplace, which links consumers to shops and spas, has exceeded 1 million monthly downloads, the company says, generating more than $1.4 billion in monthly transaction volume.
The U.S. barbering market alone could prove lucrative, though highly competitive. The market generates approximately $7 billion in annual revenue, with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 10%, according to industry figures. Information on how many U.S. shops Fresha has signed so far was not immediately available.
