Fresha, the beauty and wellness booking platform, has secured $80 million in a growth capital round led by KKR, vaulting the company to a valuation of more than $1 billion and making it the latest London-based unicorn. The investment brings Fresha’s total funding to $285 million.
The transaction was executed through KKR’s Next Generation Technology Growth strategy, the same vehicle that has backed Reserv, Coder, and Trainline, and in Europe recently led a $370 million round into hotel software unicorn Lighthouse. This is KKR’s first investment in Fresha and marks the first institutional capital the company has taken since a $30.8 million venture debt round from J.P. Morgan Asset Management in August 2024.
Reaching unicorn status caps a decade-long journey that began in Dubai. William Zeqiri, a former VP of Technology at Dubai Holding, founded Fresha in the United Arab Emirates in 2015 alongside co-founder Nicholas Miller. The platform originally launched as Shedul, a scheduling-first tool that eliminated subscription fees to drive rapid merchant adoption. It rebranded to Fresha in February 2020 as it expanded into marketplace services and payments, eventually relocating its headquarters to London as it scaled globally.
That early conviction attracted UAE-based investors who recognised the opportunity first. MEVP, Fresha’s first institutional investor at seed in 2015, generated a 39x cash-on-cash return and 88% internal rate of return when it took a partial exit during the Series C led by General Atlantic in 2021, and a 52x multiple and over 90% IRR during the Series C extension six months later at a $640 million valuation — among the strongest early-stage returns recorded in the region’s tech history.
How Fresha’s integrated platform drives growth and profitability
Fresha operates as both a consumer marketplace and a B2B software platform for beauty and wellness businesses. On the consumer side, it lets people discover and book appointments. On the business side, it replaces the fragmented tools most salons, barbershops, spas, and studios rely on, combining appointment management, point-of-sale payments, client marketing, inventory, and financial services into one system. The core software is free for businesses, which has been a key driver of adoption.
The platform monetises through payment processing fees, commissions on first-time client bookings via its marketplace, and subscription plans introduced in 2025. This structure keeps the barrier to entry low for new businesses while creating recurring revenue at scale. The numbers reflect that model’s success: Fresha now serves 130,000 businesses and 500,000-plus stylists across 120 countries, processing more than 35 million appointments per month and over $15 billion in annual transactions.
The financial performance is equally striking. Fresha’s annual revenue run-rate exceeds $140 million, growing at more than 60% year on year, and the company is already profitable — a distinction few businesses at this valuation can claim. User engagement is strong: businesses using Fresha see an average revenue increase of 40% through improved client retention, with loyal clients returning at rates exceeding 83% after their third appointment. The app has surpassed 1 million monthly downloads, placing it among the top 10 lifestyle apps globally.
Fresha has approximately 500 employees and is headquartered in London, with offices in New York, Sydney, Dublin, Amsterdam, Dubai, and Warsaw.
“Reaching unicorn status is a proud milestone, but more importantly, this investment is a strong testament to the trust our partners place in Fresha every day,” said William Zeqiri, Founder and CEO. “With KKR’s support, we will be able to further accelerate our global expansion and invest heavily in AI to transform how beauty and wellness businesses operate worldwide.”
Competition, market opportunity, and expansion
Fresha’s most direct rivals include Booksy, which raised $70 million in a Series C led by Tiger Global and is strong in North America and Europe; Vagaro, which has raised $63 million and focuses on the US market with a subscription-based approach; and Mindbody, which targets the fitness and wellness end of the market. Where Fresha differentiates itself is its integrated payments infrastructure and marketplace strategy, which creates recurring revenue at scale while keeping the barrier to entry low for new businesses.
KKR’s investment reflects that differentiation. “Fresha has built a differentiated platform, combining software, financial services, and marketplace capabilities with embedded AI, in a way that is deeply integrated into daily operations of beauty and wellness businesses,” said Patrick Devine, Partner and member of KKR’s Tech Growth team.
The market Fresha is scaling into is substantial and growing. According to Mordor Intelligence, the spa and salon software market was valued at $1.01 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $1.86 billion by 2031, growing at a compound annual rate of 10.68%. Drivers include post-pandemic wellness spending, the shift from manual appointment books to cloud-based systems, and the growing integration of AI, embedded payments, and marketplace tools into salon operations.
Fresha holds strong positions in the UK, Australasia, and the Gulf — the same region where it was born — and has identified North America, Continental Europe, and Southeast Asia as its next expansion priorities. The company has recently opened new offices in Madrid, Paris, and the Netherlands to bolster its European presence.
KKR’s backing of a business that is already profitable and growing rapidly speaks to the firm’s conviction. The investment is not a bet on potential; it is a bet on a platform that has already proven its model at scale. A founder who spotted a problem in Dubai, a platform that quietly became one of the world’s most used lifestyle apps, and a $1 billion valuation backed by one of the world’s most discerning growth investors.
