Remember Tress, the app that wants a piece of the $500 billion global haircare market? Well, they’ve been selected to be part of the Y Combinator (YC) Fellowship Program.
The YC Fellowship is designed to help launch startups currently in their early stage. It’s an eight-week program that equips startups with $20,000 (in the form of a convertible security) and advice from the YC community.
Tress was developed by Priscilla Hazel, Esther Olatunde, and Cassandra Sarfo – three women software entrepreneurs from Ghana and Nigeria. They met at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) where they became friends and decided to work on a problem they feel keenly every day – hair care.
“Acceptance into the Y Combinator Fellowship is validation of the work we are doing at Tress and the value we strive to provide to black women,” says Priscilla. “We are excited to take full advantage of opportunities available in the Y Combinator Fellowship program to fulfil our mission of helping black women thrive.”
On an average, black women spend 9 times more than women of other races do on hair; the global black hair industry is valued at over $500 billion. Tress taps into this opportunity by providing a platform where black women can discover new hair styles, stylists, products, costs, and all sorts of information they may need before going to the salon. It’s also a community for women to share tips, secrets and also support.
The Tress team will participate in the Kick Off conference during the first week of the program. The subsequent weeks will be conducted remotely with virtual weekly office hours and talks. At the end of the program, they’ll pitch to investors at a Virtual Demo Day.
