The invention of a hair-braiding robot has won a startup competition at Harvard Innovation Labs.
The 2025 President’s Innovation Challenge Winner crowned Halo Braid as its latest winner. The competition, conducted at Harvard, challenges alumni and students from its 13 schools to present innovative ideas that could transform industries. In its Alumni + Affiliates Open Track, the top prize went to the game-changing Halo Braid.
Halo Braid’s inventors, Harvard Business School’s Yinka Ogunbiyi and David Afolabi, hope to cut braiding time by half. With the introduction of the braiding robot, they aim for braiders and their clients to save time and money, boosting efficiency and speeding up the lengthy process.
@harvardinnovationlabsMeet 2025 President’s Innovation Challenge Winner: Halo Braid. Halo Braid is reducing hair braiding time from six hours to minutes, empowering hair stylists to double their business. Watch to see how innovation is transforming an industry that hasn’t changed in thousands of years.
The pitch immediately garnered attention by mentioning the struggles of traditional hair-braiding today.
“What if every time you got your hair cut, it took six hours, cost $200 to $300, and gave your hair stylist arthritis at age 2? This is what it’s like to get your hair braided. And I know this first hand because I’ve worn braids all my life,” shared Ogunbiyi.
She continued, “Hair braiding is now the most popular hairstyle for 20 million Americans who experience this miserable process every eight weeks. And yet, braiding hasn’t seen innovation since braiding was invented 5000 years ago.”
The patent-pending hair braiding robot assists braiders by finishing the braids they start. This helps not only decrease styling time by hours, but also ensures both parties can reduce time in the salon for the protective style.
“Stylists start the braid. Halo finishes it. We reduce braiding time from hours to minutes, making braiding joyful, not painful, and allowing a stylist to grow their business without destroying our hands,” added Ogunbiyi.
According to Custom Market Insights, the global hair braiding market is expected to reach a market valuation of over $625 million by 2032. Now, Halo Braid hopes to capitalize on this growing trend by helping stylists reduce braiding time while not forsaking quality.
Ogunbiyi explained, “Our devices have done 1000s of braids and braided full hairstyles like mine for the past year, and we use machine learning to match professional quality, but to do it five times faster.”
Currently, Halo Braid has a waitlist for professionals and novice braiders to elevate their services. With this win, Halo Braid can use this funding to bring their idea to fruition, forever changing the diverse hairstyling landscape.
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