Squire, a barbershop tech startup, triples its valuation to $250M in latest round

Squire, a startup that sells software to barbershops, has raised $59 million in a round led by Iconiq Capital. The raise is $45 million in equity capital, and $15 million in debt financing.

The round comes just months after Squire closed its $34 million Series B, led by CRV. With the new financing, Squire has nearly tripled its valuation, up from $85 million in June to $250 million today. Other investors in the company include Tiger Global and Trinity Ventures.

What happened? Squire’s revenue went from zero in March, when all barber shops closed, to between $10 million to $20 million in ARR just 10 months later, TechCrunch has learned. The growth indicates how the next wave of barbershops will be built atop digital technology, instead of offline processes.

“We just took off like a lightning bolt,” co-founder Dave Salvant tells TechCrunch.

Salvant and Squire’s other co-founder, Songe LaRon, began the business in 2016 as a back-end barbershop management tool for independent businesses. Squire lets businesses schedule appointments, offer loyalty programs and install contactless and cashless payment. The team claims that barbershop operations are more complex than many other types of small businesses because there are multiple parties transacting, plus customers might check out different services from different barbers all within one service.

That’s where Squire comes in — to be a point of sale to manage those confusing transactions.

The coronavirus has threatened the livelihoods of small and medium-sized business owners, making it harder for them to secure loans or financing to undergo tricky times. Salvant says that Squire took on $15 million in debt financing to create a banking-as-a-service feature for these business owners.

“This market is underserved by traditional financial institutions,” Salvant said. “And we think there’s opportunities to help these owners with financial tools.”

Going forward, Squire plans to expand into new markets, including Australia, Canada and the U.K. The majority of capital raised will go toward hiring new sales and marketing professionals.

Squire’s total staff is currently 100 people.

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