A new company that seeks to match talented immigrants to life-changing educational and career opportunities has secured $40 million in a funding round led by Drive Capital.
Led by Canadian tech entrepreneur Martin Basiri, Passage’s seed funding round also included Garage Capital, Panache Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Golden Ventures, and Think+ Ventures.
Announced today on-stage at the Collision tech conference, Passage is not Basiri’s first foray in the EdTech Space. Basiri is the co-Founder and former CEO of ApplyBoard – an organization that grew to be the largest study abroad platform in the world under his leadership.
“At a time when our country struggles to fill critical jobs in STEM, bioscience, manufacturing, cybersecurity, health care, trades, and more, we know that there is a pool of dedicated talent globally who wish to study and work in Canada yet lack the financial means to do so. Our mission at Passage is to provide access to life changing educational and career opportunities,” said Basiri who came from Iran to study in Canada in 2010.
“Passage’s platform empowers immigrants to access opportunities by matching their talents with Canada’s most crucial workforce needs. Passage then works to provide financial solutions and connect them to the logistical support they need in their transformational journeys to a life in Canada.”
This round of seed funding will support Passage as it builds out its operational capacity and further develops its technological platform.
In addition, it will also help Passage execute its first pilot project – which aims to help more than 100 female-identifying students from Afghanistan access Canadian educational opportunities with clear career paths to fields facing acute worker shortages across the nation.