San Francisco, (California) USA — Tress – the mobile app for finding amazing hairstyle inspiration, targeted at black women all over the world – has been selected as part of the Y Combinator Fellowship Program.
The Y Combinator (YC) Fellowship is an eight-week program, equipping startups with US$20,000 (in the form of a convertible security) and advice from the YC community. The fellowship is designed to help launch startups currently in their early stage and is backed by YC, the seed accelerator called “the world’s most powerful startup incubator” by Fast Company. Other Y Combinator alumni include Airbnb, Dropbox, and Reddit.
The global black haircare industry is valued at over $500 billion (black women spend a disproportionate amount of their income on hair – 9 time more than other races), and Tress is a social app that taps into this massive opportunity. The company is founded by three women software entrepreneurs from Ghana and Nigeria – Priscilla Hazel, Esther Olatunde, and Cassandra Sarfo. The trio met at the award-winning Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology program, where they became fast friends and decided to work on a problem they feel keenly every day.
“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,” said Hazel. “We are excited to take full advantage of opportunities available in the Y Combinator Fellowship program to fulfill our mission of helping black women thrive.”
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The team will participate in the Kick Off conference during the first week of the program. The subsequent weeks of the program will be conducted remotely with virtual weekly office hours and talks. At the end of the program, they will pitch to investors at a Virtual Demo Day.
Download Tress on the Google Play Store
About Tress
Tress is a mobile app and a fun, passionate community of black women from around the world sharing and discovering hairstyle inspiration. Whether you’re rocking a weave, extensions, cornrows, braids, natural, locs, relaxed hair, wig-caps, or anything in-between, Tress is your home for hair inspiration and information.
