Kollegio, based in Palo Alto, was created by co-founders Senan Khawaja (CEO) and Saeed Naeem (CTO) to make college admissions guidance available to students who cannot afford private counselors, which can cost from several thousand dollars to six figures. The platform acts as a virtual counselor: it guides students through each step of the university application journey, matches them to schools based on their profile, and reviews admissions essays. The company cites U.S. counselor shortages as the underlying problem, noting that nearly 25% of American schools have no counselor and that the national student-to-counselor ratio is 376-to-1 against a recommended 250-to-1. Since its August 2024 launch, Kollegio says 66% of its students come from households earning under $100,000 a year, and its user base spans all 50 U.S. states and more than 190 countries.
Funding
In April 2025 Kollegio announced a $2.8 million seed round led by Reach Capital, with participation from JFF Ventures, ECMC Group and Tuesday Capital. Reach Capital partner James Kim, a former Yale admissions officer, backed the company's AI-first approach to widening access.