The Seoul startup putting an entire salon business - bookings, reminders, loyalty and payroll - into one free app.
Most salon software was built for the reception counter - the appointment book, the till, the person who answers the phone. Colavo Ground started from a different premise: what about the stylist who is the receptionist, the accountant and the marketer, all from a phone between clients? That question shaped ColavoSalon, the company's free mobile CRM for independent beauty professionals, and it is why the app has spread to well over 100,000 beauty businesses around the world.
Colavo Ground was founded in Seoul in 2017 by Joseph Cheyoung Kim, who arrived at the beauty industry from an unlikely direction. At Samsung Electronics he had worked as a Senior UX Designer and led UX future innovation for mobile health services - the discipline of imagining how people would use a device that lived in their pocket. He carried that lens into an industry the software world had largely overlooked.
The result is a product that behaves less like enterprise software and more like a personal operations team. ColavoSalon handles online booking, a shared appointment calendar, automated client reminders, loyalty programs, staff commissions and sales analytics - the unglamorous machinery that separates a busy hobby from a real business. The company describes its philosophy simply: "Real growth happens when everything works together."
That breadth matters because a beauty professional's day is fragmented. A client books through an Instagram DM, another through Google, a third over WhatsApp. Colavo's pitch is that all of it should land in one calendar, and that the follow-up - the reminder that reduces a no-show, the loyalty point that earns a return visit - should happen automatically, in the client's own language.
It is a global product built by a small team. ColavoSalon is offered in 22 languages across more than 30 countries, with localized sites for markets from the United States to Brazil to the Middle East. For a company of roughly seven people, that reach is the headline achievement - and the clearest sign of where it is aiming.
A no-show is not just a missed appointment. It is rent, product and time already spent - plus the client who wanted that slot and could not have it. For an independent stylist with no salaried front desk, that gap is felt directly in the day's earnings. Colavo built its core product around shrinking it.
The mechanism is mundane by design: automated, multi-language reminders; the option to require a deposit against no-shows; prepaid packages and loyalty points that give clients a reason to return. None of it is flashy. All of it targets the same number - the cost of the chair that sits empty when it should not.
A free mobile-first CRM covering booking, client records, staff management, sales and inventory - the platform everything else plugs into.
Self-service booking that captures appointments from Google, Instagram, WhatsApp and websites into a single calendar.
"Manager Talk" sends multi-language client notifications and reminders designed to reduce no-shows and keep clients coming back.
Prepaid packages, gift vouchers, loyalty points and deposits that lock in future visits and steady cash flow.
Revenue and expense tracking, staff performance reports and automated commission calculations by service.
Built for hair, nails, lashes, makeup, skincare, waxing, tattoo and massage - in 22 languages across 30+ countries.
Colavo competes in a crowded salon-tech market alongside names like Booksy, Fresha, Vagaro, GlossGenius and Mindbody's Booker. Its distinguishing bet is twofold: give the core CRM away for free, and design mobile-first for the solo professional rather than the multi-chair salon with a reception desk.
The free tier is not charity. It is a strategy - once a salon's bookings, clients, payroll and analytics all live in one app, that app becomes the operating system of the business, and switching costs rise. Paid PLUS tiers and add-ons layer on top for larger teams.
Colavo also skews international in a way many Western competitors do not, leaning into WhatsApp bookings and heavy localization to reach professionals in emerging beauty markets.
"Real growth happens when everything works together."
Colavo runs a freemium SaaS model. The core ColavoSalon CRM is free, which lowers the barrier for independent professionals who might never sign up for a paid tool. Revenue comes from PLUS tiers and add-on services aimed at larger salons and advanced needs, with distribution handled through mobile app stores and the web.
Its customers span the full range of beauty work - hair, nails, lashes, makeup, skincare, waxing, tattoo and massage - and the full range of scale, from a solo artist working alone to a team running multiple locations. Company materials cite adoption figures that range from 140,000 salons in 72 countries to 210,000+ professionals in 30-plus countries, a reflection of how quickly and widely the free app has spread.
On the funding side, public sources report roughly $3.77M in total capital, anchored by a Series A round in 2021. Investors named across databases include TBT Partners, BNH Investment, TIMEFOLIO Asset Management, DAEKYO Investment, The Invention Lab and Enlight Ventures - a mostly Korean and regional venture syndicate backing the company's international expansion.
The expertise underpinning all of it traces back to product and UX design. Colavo's roots are in understanding how a person actually uses software on a small screen, in a busy moment, between clients - and building the salon business around that reality rather than around a desktop and a desk.
Joseph Cheyoung Kim founds the company in Seoul to build mobile software for beauty professionals.
The app grows adoption among independent stylists with booking, reminders and client tools.
Colavo raises a Series A round (~$3.77M reported total) from Korean and regional venture investors.
Localized sites and app support extend across dozens of countries and many languages.
The founder highlights team growth and activity in markets including Saudi Arabia.
ColavoSalon expands its presence in Brazil, including a local YouTube channel.
It builds ColavoSalon, a mobile CRM and booking platform for beauty professionals and salons that handles appointments, reminders, loyalty, staff commissions and sales analytics.
It was founded in 2017 by Joseph Cheyoung Kim, a former Samsung UX designer, and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, with a listed New York address.
The core CRM is offered free, with paid PLUS tiers and add-on services for larger salons and advanced features - a freemium model.
Independent beauty professionals and salons across hair, nails, lashes, makeup, skincare and more - from solo artists to multi-location teams, across dozens of countries.
Public sources report roughly $3.77M in total funding, including a Series A round in 2021 from investors such as TBT Partners, BNH Investment and TIMEFOLIO Asset Management.
Sources include colavosalon.com, global.colavosalon.com, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, CB Insights, The Org, RocketReach, PitchBook and Google Play. Funding and user figures are as reported by third-party databases and company materials, and are approximate. Some adoption figures vary by source.