Vancouver-based startup HelpHub Services Inc. has raised a $250,000 funding round today from Sora Capital Corp. Sora’s CEO is former NHL hockey player Paul Reinhart.
HelpHub is a new startup founded in 2013 by Vancouver student Miguel Kudry. The online tutoring platform connects students with tutors using social media features, including real-time text messaging and chat, as well as online voice and video, without having to pre-schedule sessions or travel to meet with the tutor.
The “supplemental educational services (SES) industry” is projected to surpass $10 billion in North America alone by 2017, and HelpHub thinks it can grab a slice of the pie. This industry provides means of additional academic instruction for students.
HelpHub is free to tutors, who get to set their own availability, price and availability. Students also sign up for free and can search for tutors by subject and published profiles. Students can also engage in free instant chat to determine a best fit with a tutor. The pricing starts at $0.17 per minute (the company claims the industry average is “upwards of double that figure”). HelpHub currently has active tutors and students at over 50 schools across North America.
The company’s founder is a 21-year-old recent graduate in Business Management student. At the age of 14 Kudry developed a profitable web application for posting and sharing photos in social media sites. Two years later he arrived in Canada from Caracas, Venezuela.
Sora Capital president and CEO, Paul Reinhart has agreed to join the board of directors of HelpHub. Reinhart has been a “successful financier of early stage companies” in Canada since his retirement from the National Hockey League in 1990. Reinhart’s investments have typically focused on resource exploration and medical companies
Reinhart’s sons are Max, Griffin and Sam, who’s names will be familiar with hockey fans in Canada.
Here’s an great shot of Reinhart in his playing days, sporting a healthy-looking 90’s hair cut and moustache.
