ShearShare has burst onto the startup scene in Buffalo over the past three months, hosting events, unveiling a new version of its software and hiring local employees.
Now the startup – a web-based platform that serves the salon and beauty industry – has a new round of funding as it builds its business here.
ShearShare closed on $2.3 million of seed funding in February that it will use on “supercharging sales and partnerships, amplifying self-service for our mobile platform and introducing new educational tools plus proprietary analysis for small business owners,” co-founder and chief operating officer Courtney Caldwell said.
The round was led by the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund, which invests in women of color-led businesses, and included contributions from a number of locally notable sources. That included angel investors Jack Greco and Wayne and Mary Bacon; Empire State Development Corp.’s New York Ventures Fund; Ithaca-based venture firm Chloe Capital, which invests in women-led startups; and Hearst Corp.’s Level Up Ventures.
ShearShare moved its headquarters from Dallas to Buffalo after winning $500,000 in the 43North competition in October 2021 – the 43North investment was included in the round as well.
Caldwell moved to Buffalo with her husband, company CEO Tye Caldwell, who has a doctorate in professional barbering and has run his own salon in Dallas for 26 years. The company previously raised a round of $2.3 million in seed funding in October 2020.
The startup proposes to match independent stylists and barbers with empty chairs at existing salons – helping both sides of the market with one of the core problems of their business. They have been seeking to partner with Buffalo-based beauty industry professionals, and said they have found positive traction in the few months they’ve been here.
Eight of ShearShare’s 15 employees are now based here, with more hiring to come.
“We’ve been really well-received in Western New York,” Tye Caldwell said. “We feel like it has really validated our decision to move here.”
