Yinka Ogunbiyi, a Nigerian-American entrepreneur, engineer, and chef, has unveiled a robot that promises to cut hours off hair-braiding appointments.
This week, Ogunbiyi and co-founder David Afolabi shared the first demonstration of HaloBraid, a braiding-assistant machine for hairstylists. The device automates the most repetitive part of the braiding process without replacing stylists.
The founders won Harvard’s 2025 President’s Innovation Challenge and raised $7 million in seed funding, led by Seven Seven Six. This fall, the device will roll out to professional salons across the Northeast.
About Yinka Ogunbiyi
Ogunbiyi was born and raised in London to Nigerian migrant parents. Both her parents were engineers who left the field to pursue their passion for food and became butchers and chefs. That fostered her love for cooking.
Ogunbiyi initially moved to Massachusetts in 2012 to study engineering at Harvard University. The program included a required course titled “Engineering a Better BBQ” under Professor Kit Parker. In this class, students mathematically studied the processes behind cooking, including reading data points such as temperature, air speed, and smoke particulates. For weeks, they designed new ways to smoke briskets overnight.
Fascinated by this experience, Ogunbiyi spent the next four years after her degree building smart kitchen appliances. As co-founder and COO of Desora, she invented the SloRoller and co-designed the Kamado Joe III and Kettle Joe. Leading a team of engineers, Ogunbiyi also created a novel computer simulation to model and design cooking appliances. It cut testing time by four to six months. She ended the startup in 2020, with eight patents to her name.
Following her time in the appliance industry, she moved back to London to work as a professional chef and recipe developer. In the fall of 2021, she returned to Massachusetts to pursue a joint master of science and master of business administration at Harvard Engineering and Harvard Business School.
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From Idea to Execution
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ogunbiyi stumbled upon the idea for HaloBraid. Unable to visit her usual salon stylist, she tried to install small, waist-length knotless braids on herself. The experience took her four whole days. But while sitting at home, plaiting each braid, she found herself asking, “Where is the device to make this faster for me?” Ogunbiyi said in an interview with The Grio.
With an engineering degree and years of experience designing kitchen appliances, Ogunbiyi co-founded HaloBraid, a textured hair care startup, with Afolabi. The pair spent roughly four years conducting market research, designing, rigorously testing, and building numerous iterations. It took interviews with 200 stylists, surveys with more than 2,200 braid wearers, and over 600 prototypes before developing what the company calls the world’s first braid-assist device.
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How HaloBraid Works
HaloBraid was never designed to replace hairstylists. It was designed to make their work easier. “Many stylists mentioned dealing with carpal tunnel and early-onset arthritis,” said Ogunbiyi. Long salon hours, repetitive motions, and constant wrist tension can cause numbness, tingling, and hand issues that cut stylists’ careers short. One braiding appointment installing small to micro braids can take anywhere between nine and 15 hours. That is where HaloBraid comes in.
With HaloBraid, the stylist starts each braid by hand, sets the size and keeps the parts clean, then feeds it into the device. The machine uses airflow to pull the braid in and completes the repetitive weaving down the mid-shaft. HaloBraid finishes the braid autonomously while the stylist moves on to other braids. It manipulates the strands up to five times faster than human hands without causing unnecessary tension or pulling. For now, it handles traditional three-strand braids, including knotless and box braids. It cannot add extensions, so stylists still handle that step by hand.
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Product Validation and Investment
In 2025, Ogunbiyi and Afolabi’s invention secured top prize at Harvard’s 2025 President’s Innovation Challenge. They won a $75,000 grand prize in the Alumni & Affiliates Open Track. A video taken from the pitch competition went viral, hitting up to 4 billion impressions. It swelled the waitlist of stylists and consumers.
Earlier this year, their momentum continued; HaloBraid secured $7 million in seed funding in a round led by Seven Seven Six. Alexis Ohanian, Serena William’s husband and co-founder of the venture group, had firsthand experience with his wife and daughters braiding appointments. “I immediately saw the value for HaloBraid,” says Ohanian. “I’ve sat through and tried to help during these marathon braiding sessions for my daughter and wife.”
AlleyCorp and Bling Capital also participated in the round. The company used the funding for manufacturing, salon partnerships, product testing, and its commercial launch.
HaloBraid, Now Coming to Salons
HaloBraid is now entering its rollout stage. Earlier this week, Ogunbiyi and Afolabi shared their highly anticipated first-look demonstration video, officially unveiling the automated hair braiding device. Through the Founding Stylist Program, selected salons and stylists will train and onboard. TheGrio reports that the device will debut through pop-up events at participating salons across the Northeast this fall. More than 7,000 salons have joined the waitlist. However, HaloBraid is strictly a device for professional stylists and salons. It will not be sold as an at-home machine for consumer use.
Instead of forcing small salons to buy an expensive piece of hardware upfront, HaloBraid is making the tool accessible through a per-appointment usage fee. The company will receive a cut of each appointment shortened with HaloBraid.
As an avid wearer of braids herself, Ogunbiyi designed something to make her hair days easier. Now, with HaloBraid, she is working to cut appointment times for millions of Black women and to protect the stylists who dedicate their lives to the craft.
