London's Fresha hits unicorn status with KKR-led $80M raise

Fresha, a London-based booking and payments platform for salons and spas, raised $80m from KKR’s Next Generation Technology Growth fund, valuing the company at more than $1bn. The primary growth capital round takes Fresha to unicorn status and brings total funding since 2015 to $285m. The platform is used by more than 130,000 beauty and wellness businesses across multiple regions and processes more than 35 million appointments per month. It has an annual revenue run-rate above $140m, growing at over 60% per year, and the business is profitable. Founded in 2015, Fresha has expanded from booking into payments, capital, and AI-driven scheduling and marketing tools.

"Fresha, the London-based booking and payments platform for salons and spas, has raised $80m from funds managed by KKR in a deal that values the company at more than $1bn, the company said on Thursday. The round, structured as primary growth capital, takes Fresha to unicorn status and lifts the total raised since 2015 to $285m."

"The platform is used by more than 130,000 beauty and wellness businesses across the UK, Australasia, the Gulf, North America and parts of South-East Asia, and processes more than 35 million appointments a month, or roughly 420 million a year, against $15bn in annual gross merchandise value. Annual revenue run-rate stands at more than $140m, growing at over 60% a year, and the business is profitable."

"Founded in 2015 by William Zeqiri and Nick Miller, Fresha has spent the past five years quietly displacing the older booking incumbents in its core markets and pushing into payments, capital, and, more recently, AI-driven scheduling and marketing tools. Zeqiri, in a statement, called reaching unicorn status "a proud milestone" and said the round would fund further global expansion and AI investment."

"Miller, the company's chief product officer, framed the round as validation from customers, who he said were already using the platform as their primary operating layer. KKR's diligence ran for more than a year and included surveys of ove"

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