Barespace Capital’s new system gives salon owners direct access to growth funding through the platform they already use.
Start-up Barespace, an Irish AI-powered OS provider for the hair and beauty sector, has launched Barespace Capital, an embedded finance platform enabling salons to access funding within already utilised platforms.
Barespace and Barespace Capital aim to follow a shift towards embedded finance across vertical SaaS platforms. According to Barespace, the hair and beauty sectors often deal with traditional lenders who struggle with risk assessment and variable cash flow, as standard finance systems often rely on documentation and processes designed for other types of business.
Established in Dublin in 2022 by co-founders Conor Moules and Glenn McGoldrick, Barespace works with more than 300 salons across Ireland, the UK, France and Spain, and recently secured significant seed funding of €2.9m to support further expansion.
The platform stated that Barespace Capital “represents the latest step in the company’s evolution from a booking platform into an AI-powered operating system for the beauty industry”. So far, the company has raised €4.68m in funding.
Commenting on the announcement, CEO Moules said: “Salons run on tight margins and unpredictable cash flow. Traditional banks don’t understand the business and most salon owners either go without or jump through hoops for a loan that can take months to approve.
“Barespace Capital changes that. Because we already live inside the salon, managing bookings, product inventory, staff and payments, we have a real-time picture of the business that no bank ever sees. When you can see the talent and the traction in real time, backing them is not a risk. It’s obvious.”
In March of this year, Sifted released its annual list of the 100 fastest-growing Irish and UK start-ups; Barespace made an appearance, coming in at 56th position as the highest ranking seed start-up on the list. Other high-profile Irish entries included Dublin’s Kota, which placed in the top 10, and Protex AI, which ranked 21st.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login