Nigerian-American engineer and Harvard graduate Yinka Ogunbiyi has created HaloBraid, a robot designed to assist hairstylists by speeding up the braiding process and reducing the physical stress involved in the job
The innovation has already secured $7 million in seed funding and attracted more than 7,000 salons to its waiting list ahead of its planned commercial launch.
The achievement was highlighted by the United States Mission in Nigeria in a post shared on X on Friday.
It wrote:
> “Nigerian-American engineer & Harvard grad Yinka Ogunbiyi built HaloBraid, the world’s first braid-assist robot, easing strain on stylists & saving salons time. $7M raised, 7,000+ salons waitlisted.”
The funding round was led by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm established by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, with additional backing from AlleyCorp and Bling Capital.
Ogunbiyi earned both a Master of Science and a Master of Business Administration through a joint programme at Harvard Engineering School and Harvard Business School. Before launching HaloBraid, she worked in the consumer electronics and connected home appliance industry.
She conceived the idea during the COVID-19 pandemic after spending four days installing her own knotless braids. She later teamed up with co-founder David Afolabi to turn the concept into reality.
Rather than replacing hairstylists, HaloBraid is designed to work alongside them. Stylists begin by sectioning the client’s hair and creating the initial anchor knot manually, after which the robot takes over the repetitive braiding process, helping to save time and reduce fatigue.
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