Fresha secures $80 million from KKR, reaching $1 billion valuation

London-based beauty and wellness booking platform Fresha has secured an $80 million investment from KKR’s Next Generation Technology Growth fund. The transaction values the company at more than $1 billion, marking its entry into the unicorn category. This capital injection brings Fresha’s total funding to $285 million since its inception.

The investment comes from KKR’s growth equity arm, which typically targets companies with proven business models operating in aggressive expansion modes. The selection of Fresha by the fund suggests the investor views the platform as having moved past the risky early stages of startup development and being prepared for significant scaling.

Founded in 2015, Fresha has demonstrated substantial growth in its operational scale. At the time of a previous fundraising round in 2021, the platform hosted 60,000 businesses and worked with over 150,000 professionals across 120 countries. Current figures indicate the platform now hosts more than 140,000 businesses.

The volume of activity on the platform has increased correspondingly. Fresha reports processing more than 35 million appointments monthly, which equates to over one billion appointments annually. This scale places the company among the larger scheduling platforms globally, extending beyond the specific confines of the beauty and wellness sector.

Fresha intends to utilise the new capital for two primary purposes: international expansion and the development of artificial intelligence features. The company has not specified which countries will be targeted for expansion or provided a timeline for the rollout of new AI capabilities.

The source material does not clarify whether the $1 billion valuation is pre-money or post-money. Additionally, claims regarding the company’s market ranking relative to other scheduling platforms are presented as the company’s perspective rather than independently verified data.