A Nigerian entrepreneur is bringing artificial intelligence and robotics to the beauty industry with a new invention designed to reduce the time it takes to braid hair dramatically.
HaloBraid, a robotics startup founded by Nigerian engineer and entrepreneur Yinka Ogunbiyi, has officially launched with $7 million in seed funding to develop an AI-powered braiding assistant for professional hairstylists.
The investment round was led by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, with additional backing from AlleyCorp and Bling Capital.
Ogunbiyi said the idea was born during the COVID-19 lockdown while she was living alone in London and attempted to braid her own hair.
“It took me four days,” she recalled.
That experience inspired her to approach hair braiding as an engineering challenge rather than simply a beauty routine.
Armed with a Master’s degree in Engineering from Harvard University and an MBA, Ogunbiyi spent several years researching and developing technology to assist professional hairstylists.
The result is HaloBraid’s first robotic device, which is expected to launch later this year.
Although the company has kept many technical details confidential while patent applications are pending, Ogunbiyi explained that the machine is designed to work alongside, not replace, professional braiders.
A stylist begins each braid manually before handing it over to the device, which completes the remaining section in just seconds.
The robot has been designed to handle popular protective hairstyles such as box braids and knotless braids, while remaining gentle on natural hair.
According to Ogunbiyi’s research, people worldwide collectively spend an estimated 8 billion hours braiding hair each year.
Her survey of more than 2,000 people also found that 95% of respondents said they would braid their hair more frequently if the process required less time.
She noted that professional braiders often work extremely long hours and are at risk of developing repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis.
Alexis Ohanian said the business opportunity became obvious once he considered how much time families spend on braided hairstyles.
Married to tennis legend Serena Williams and father to two daughters who regularly wear braids, Ohanian said he has experienced the lengthy process firsthand.
“I’ve studied exactly how long these braiding sessions take,” he said.
“My oldest daughter loves the ritual for the first few hours, but by hour nine, everyone’s ready to call it a night.”
He added that while companies like Dyson have transformed the haircare industry with innovative styling tools, technology designed specifically for textured hair has remained largely overlooked.
“This is hardware’s moment,” Ohanian said, describing HaloBraid as a highly differentiated product with strong commercial potential.
The fresh funding will be used to finalize product development, begin manufacturing, and establish partnerships with salons ahead of the device’s commercial rollout.
HaloBraid currently faces limited competition in the emerging robotic hair-braiding market, with Braidiant among the few companies exploring similar technology.
Ogunbiyi explained that creating the machine was particularly challenging because hair is one of the most difficult materials to manipulate precisely.
To solve the problem, her engineering team borrowed techniques from several industries, including materials science and inkjet printing.
Looking beyond its first product, HaloBraid is already planning additional innovations, including a robotic device capable of undoing braids, another process that can take several hours.
“HaloBraid is our first product, but our larger vision is to create breakthrough technology that makes textured haircare faster, easier, more comfortable, and more joyful,” Ogunbiyi said.
The startup’s launch marks a significant milestone in African innovation, combining robotics, artificial intelligence, and beauty technology to address a centuries-old challenge faced by millions worldwide.