A Marlow-based start-up business that aims to provide affordable has raised over £100,000 to kickstart its journey.

Sherpa Online, an EdTech enterprise has launched an equity crowdfunding round on the investment platform Crowdcube with a target of £250,000.

The crowdfunding page has currently raised £123,797.91 from 35 investors as the company closes in on the halfway mark.

Co-founder and local engineering graduate, Conor Hughes, set up Sherpa in 2020 in a bid to provide better educational materials and tools to his fellow students in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Conor hopes this will increase academic achievement in the surrounding area through private tuition sessions from qualified UK teachers.

He said: “After a year of hitting milestones in 2021-2022, we're really excited to see what we can achieve this academic year.

"We're looking to raise capital to not only accelerate our core growth but develop an international product to set Sherpa up for the future.”

As a student, Conor experienced first-hand the frustrations of trying to find extra support for his A-Level studies.

His business Sherpa believes online tuition reduces historically expensive in-person settings and helps ease hidden costs of travel.

The Sherpa team includes many parents and young graduates from Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Berkshire all working together to help bring Conor’s vision to life.

Nick Atherton, Venture Partner at Morphose Capital Partners (and Investment Director at Sherpa) comments: “The Sherpa team continue to develop a quality service that has a real, positive impact and great potential to reduce inequality of opportunities for UK school children, supported by a growing catalogue of positive online reviews.

"We look forward to working with Sherpa as they continue to make world-class tutoring accessible to every household.”

In the last two years, they have facilitated over 25,000 lessons, with 3665 coming from May 2022 alone.

The tuition business has an impressive 2,200 plus tutors and has earned 630 5-star reviews on Trustpilot.

A post on their crowdfunding page reads: "1-to-1 tuition has historically been expensive and exclusive.

"We think online tuition should solve this, but we also believe some platforms have high commission rates and lazy recruitment practices which means prices can increase while standards decrease

"Our mission - disrupt the EdTech sector.

"With 27 per cent of UK children in 2019 and 20 per cent of uni students in 2018 seeking a tutor, and 69 per cent  of A-Level students currently feeling left behind, our goal is to make online tuition more accessible with fair fees & a focus on quality."

To view the crowdfunding page visit here: https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/sherpa/pitches/b0dDLb?utm_source=other&utm_medium=other&utm_campaign=Sherpa:crowdfunding_press_release&utm_term=campaign_referral_link