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It’s one thing to launch a business, but a whole other thing when that business is in an industry that is highly competitive and hard for startups to scale. During this week’s episode of AfroTech’s Black Tech Green Money podcast, host Will Lucas walks us through navigating spaces in the beauty, barber, and wellness industries. Lucas speaks with both Courtney Adeleye, Founder and CEO of The Mane Choice, as well as Squire co-founders Songe LaRon and Dave Salvant about some of the things they’ve witnessed firsthand as leaders in their respective industries.
Barbershop scheduling app SQUIRE continues to grow amid its success with users according to its latest funding round. A press release reports that SQUIRE Technologies, Inc. — the only full scale barbershop management and POS system of its kind — has raised a $60 million Series D, bringing its total raised since launching to roughly $165 million, thus tripling its valuation to $750 million overall. The funding round was led by Tiger Global, with participation from existing investors such as ICONIQ Capital, Charles River Ventures and Trinity Ventures. Since 2015, SQUIRE has been offering its unique slate of services to benefit shop owners looking to scale their businesses and clientele, allowing them to cut back on time spent managing back office operations. With its new funding, the company plans to expand its engineering teams and increase sales as it continues to grow exponentially beyond its existing markets. “Our software helps our customers with nearly every workflow in their...
Privately-held investment firm ICONIQ Capital has invested $60 million in Squire Technologies following its latest Series C funding round. According to Fortune, the four-year-old payments company — who raised $34 million for its Series B round just six months ago — is the leading barbershop management and point of sale system software looking to help bring new businesses online. ICONIQ, which invests on behalf of Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, has been eyeing the male grooming industry for some time, according to the firm’s Yoonkee Sull. “The men’s barbershop and grooming industry as a men’s industry has grown very robustly from an interest perspective, which has been a boom to the barbershop industry,” Sull said. Founded by Songe LaRon and Dave Salvant, Squire is an all-in-one, easy-to-use platform that allows businesses to fully integrate their business into a system that can increase revenue and create a smooth customer experience. In addition, the product features contactless...
With the COVID-19 crisis keeping us bound to the confines of our homes for months, and the world slowly reopening little by little, news of Squire Technologies’ Series B could not have come at a better time. Squire is a Black-owned scheduling, point-of-sale, and management app created for barbers and male groomers. With Squire, barbers can manage waitlists, set up loyalty programs, have their customers book and pay for services, and much more. Plus, all transactions are contactless and cashless, which is a major advantage in a post-pandemic society. In an announcement made on June 9, 2020, Squire has raised $34 million in Series B funding led by CRV, with participation from Tiger Global, San Francisco 49ers organization, and the former CEO and Chairman of Infor, Charles Phillips. In June 2019, Squire raised $8 million in a round of Series A funding led by Trinity Ventures, bringing their total funding at the time to $12.2 million. The tech startup can now proudly say they have...
People are living increasingly busy lives. So when it comes to hitting up barbershops, most people don’t have time to wait around. The barbershop scheduling app, Squire, aims to make the entire experience easier for both barbers and customers. Recently, Squire raised $8 million in a round of Series A funding led by Trinity Ventures. The app — which launched in 2016 — has raised $12.2 million to date. In the United States, men’s grooming has grown to be a $20 billion market . So, it’s a smart move for investors to get in on this. Schwark Satyavolu, General Partner at Trinity Ventures and member of Squire’s Board of Directors, said: “Squire has done a phenomenal job of creating a delightful user experience for both small business owners and their customers. They are making payments disappear on both sides of a complex, multi-step transaction, and they are bringing innovative Silicon Valley technology to the SMB ecosystem.” Currently, Squire operates across 28 cities. The company told...
Haircuts and grooming are a necessary part of looking and feeling your best. That’s why Squire co-founder Dave Salvant wants to make scheduling barbershop appointments a much easier process with his app. AfroTech caught up with Salvant and talked to him about challenges he has faced launching Squire and advice he has for other founders. This interview has been edited for length. What has been the hardest thing about starting your own company? As I look back at it, I think the hardest thing has been dealing with the uncertainty. You really have to get over not having a paycheck every couple of weeks and not knowing if your company is going to survive and not having all of the answers. There’s a high level of uncertainty and you just have to be able to cope with that and brace yourself for that. You said that you came up with the idea for Squire while you were in business school, but decided to leave to commit all of your time to the company. What ultimately made you settle with the...
In this interview for OF10podcast , a podcast focusing on prominent minorities in the tech industry, host Will Lucas and entrepreneur Dave Salvant discuss never giving up on your dream. Dave Salvant is co-founder of Squire , an app that enhances the barbershop experience for both customers and barbers – allowing people to book and pay for cuts at the push of a button. I originally met Dave when we were shooting an episode for Puff Daddy’s REVOLT TV channel in New York. I found him to be incredibly inspiring. He’s a Y Combinator alum , and dropped out of his MBA program at Wisconsin-Madison to found Squire. I caught up with him to talk about Squire, his path to creating the company, and why its so important to stay the course. Note: This portion of the interview is derived from the audio interview heard on the OF10podcast with Will Lucas . To hear the podcast, subscribe in iTunes , Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. This interview has been edited for length. Will Lucas:...