Study Abroad Coaching Service, Halp, Raises $5.5M in Seed Financing

Halp founders, Matthew McLellan, Marc Fielding and Justin Mills, recognized that economic downturns translate into spikes in the international post-secondary education admissions market. McLellan (CEO) notes that when markets fall, many lose their jobs or switch careers and return to school, “That happened in 2000, that happened in 2008, and we’re seeing it now.” 

Halp aims to help international students get into and afford the right school suited for them – currently mainly Indian students seeking education in Canada or the United States. While other companies, such as Canadian-based ApplyBoard, have already entered the study abroad market and provide services such as application aid, Halp has big aspirations to become a one-stop service that bundles coaching, banking, learning, and job placement to help students from all over the world reach their career goals. One of the company’s main draws is the fact that it does not charge the students it serves, rather it takes payment only from placement fees from schools.

Halp first tested its product last year and was met with a waitlist of 18,000 eager learners. Following this, the company set out to raise financing and is now armed with $5.5 million CAD in seed funding – a significant portion of which came from Serena Williams’ venture fund, Serena Ventures.

Halp plans to use this funding to continue to focus on product development, mainly automating the onboarding process and scaling its coaching capabilities. In doing so, Halp hopes to eventually live up to their large aspirations.