Yinka Ogunbiyi, an entrepreneur with an MS in engineering from Harvard and an MBA, turned a personal experience during the COVID‑19 lockdown—when it took her four days to braid her own hair—into a technical challenge. After years of research, she launched HaloBraid on Tuesday, a robotics startup developing a device that assists professional stylists with hair braiding.
The company closed a $7 million seed round led by Seven Seven Six, the venture firm of Reddit co‑founder Alexis Ohanian. AlleyCorp and Bling Capital also participated in the financing. HaloBraid says it will use the funds for product development, manufacturing and building salon partnerships.
How the device works
Ogunbiyi declined to disclose detailed technical specifications because patents are pending, but explained the intended workflow: a stylist begins the braid and then hands off the work to HaloBraid, which can complete the braid in seconds. The product is designed to be gentle on hair and capable of finishing knotless and box braids.
She emphasized the engineering challenges: hair is a difficult substrate to manipulate, and the team borrowed techniques from multiple fields, including material science and inkjet printing, to develop the device.
Market size and demand
According to Ogunbiyi’s research, people spend an estimated 8 billion hours braiding hair each year. In a survey of 2,000 respondents conducted by her team, 95% said they would get their hair braided more often if the process took less time. Stylists, meanwhile, face long working hours and occupational health issues such as carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis.
Alexis Ohanian cited the unmet need and clear market opportunity for technology that addresses textured hair. Ohanian has personal familiarity with braided styles and sees opportunities similar to prior tooling innovations in the haircare market.
Team, competitors and next steps
HaloBraid has a team of roughly 15 people. The most notable competitor in the hair‑braiding device space is Braidiant, but HaloBraid’s founders say the complexity of hair has limited prior innovation.
Beyond the initial braiding assistant, the company is already considering additional products, including a device to speed up braid removal—a process that can take as long as braiding itself. Ogunbiyi described HaloBraid as the company’s first product within a broader vision to make textured haircare faster, easier, more comfortable and more joyful.
The startup will focus the new funding on refining the product, ramping manufacturing, and securing partnerships with salons as it moves toward a planned launch later this year.
Notes
The launch was announced “on Tuesday” in the source reporting; specific commercial launch dates were not provided and will be announced by the company in future communications.
