As everyone looks to ditch the "COVID manes," Squire Technologies is growing its war chest.
Having benefited from a rash of barbershops digitizing during the era of social distancing, Squire, the maker of software specifically aimed at businesses that trim men’s hair and beards, on Wednesday announced a new round of funding that triples its valuation to $ 750 million just under a year since it received its last venture round less than a year ago. (That round, officially announced back in December, was led by Iconiq Capital, a multifamily office who invests on behalf of high-profile tech executives including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.)
The new Series D round, which totals around $ 60 million, was led by Tiger Global and included participation from Iconiq, CRV, and Trinity Ventures.
At the start of stay-at-home orders last year, Squire’s revenues plummeted. But as businesses began reopening at limited capacity, more and more barbers began turning to Squire to coordinate scheduling and manage payments—giving the company a boost.
Since Squire takes both a subscription fee and a percentage of each haircut or trim made through its platform, Squire’s founders, President Dave Salvant and CEO Songe LaRon say rising vaccination rates and return to higher occupancy limits in barbershops has continued to benefit the company as consumers return to professionals to get their cuts.
"We've started seeing more shops coming back online that didn’t close down and their customers coming back with pent up demand," said LaRon.
While the company declined to give a specific revenue figure, it expects to grow its topline by about 300% this year.
Having been an investor in Squire since mid-2020, Tiger put its bid for the company together rapidly, over the course of a week. Adhering to its playbook, the hedge fund-turned-omnipresent-venture-investor will not be taking a board seat — a strategy that has helped the investor win many deals, including, it seems, this one.
Published by Fortune — on Jul 28, 2021
Having benefited from a rash of barbershops digitizing during the era of social distancing, Squire, the maker of software specifically aimed at businesses that trim men’s hair and beards, on Wednesday announced a new round of funding that triples its valuation to $ 750 million just under a year since it received its last venture round less than a year ago. (That round, officially announced back in December, was led by Iconiq Capital, a multifamily office who invests on behalf of high-profile tech executives including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.)
The new Series D round, which totals around $ 60 million, was led by Tiger Global and included participation from Iconiq, CRV, and Trinity Ventures.
At the start of stay-at-home orders last year, Squire’s revenues plummeted. But as businesses began reopening at limited capacity, more and more barbers began turning to Squire to coordinate scheduling and manage payments—giving the company a boost.
Since Squire takes both a subscription fee and a percentage of each haircut or trim made through its platform, Squire’s founders, President Dave Salvant and CEO Songe LaRon say rising vaccination rates and return to higher occupancy limits in barbershops has continued to benefit the company as consumers return to professionals to get their cuts.
"We've started seeing more shops coming back online that didn’t close down and their customers coming back with pent up demand," said LaRon.
While the company declined to give a specific revenue figure, it expects to grow its topline by about 300% this year.
Having been an investor in Squire since mid-2020, Tiger put its bid for the company together rapidly, over the course of a week. Adhering to its playbook, the hedge fund-turned-omnipresent-venture-investor will not be taking a board seat — a strategy that has helped the investor win many deals, including, it seems, this one.
Published by Fortune — on Jul 28, 2021