An award-winning Aberdeen barber is to open new salons in Edinburgh and Glasgow after securing a funding package to support growth.
The expansion of Sovereign Grooming beyond the Granite City is expected to create 20 jobs.
Sovereign is run by Kyle Ross and backed by investors led by Northumberland firm MB Martin & Partners, which specialises in helping high-potential early stage companies grow.
Alongside the six-figure funding package, Sovereign has agreed a 10-year lease on a 1,118sq ft unit in Edinburgh’s New Waverley development, near the Royal Mile, and will open in the capital next month.
A third salon, in Glasgow, will follow in spring.
Mr Ross, who launched Sovereign with marketing expert Ryan Crighton, has won awards since opening on Union Street in 2016, and was named among the UK’s elite barbers by GQ Magazine.
Commenting on the funding package, made up of both equity investment and a debt facility brokered by MB Martin & Partners, Mr Ross said: “We are delighted to get this deal completed and access the capital required to expand our business.”
Mr Ross and Mr Crighton remain largest shareholders in the business, retaining 80% of its equity shares.
An employee share scheme will, over time, see 10% of the business owned by “loyal and strategically important” staff.
