Halo Braid, a startup that produced a hair braiding robot has won the 2025 President’s Innovation Challenge Award at the Harvard Innovation Lab.

The company, founded Nigerian duo Harvard alumni Yinka Ogunbiyi and David Afolabi, took home the $75,000 grand prize in the Alumni & Affiliates Open Track category.

Getting a braid is a costly and lengthy process that takes hours — even days in some cases to complete. That could all change with the help of the Hair Braid robots.

With their innovative braiding robot, they hope to help both braiders and clients save time and money, making the process faster and more efficient.

With the $75,000 prize, Halo Braid is gearing up to open a salon in Boston to pilot and scale the technology ahead of wider manufacturing later this year. In the meantime, the company has opened a waitlist for stylists and salons interested in adding the robot to their arsenal once it becomes commercially available.

“We’re excited to realize our mission of saving billions of hours spent braiding hair each year,” Ogunbyi added. “And transform an industry that hasn’t changed in thousands of years.”