In 2017, Joon Beh and his co-founder, Benjamin Dent, founded Hallo - a social app and marketplace for English learning. Hallo started 2019 out strong, taking second place at the Silicon Slopes Startup Competition in January and first place at the Investors Choice Competition in February. So what's all the buzz about?
As a Korean immigrant, Beh understands the challenges of learning a new language, the biggest one being lack of opportunities to speak. English learners spend most of their time in textbooks instead of actually speaking. However, the best way to learn a new language is by speaking, practicing, and immersing yourself in the language and culture daily.
Hallo understands this and takes advantage of a gap in the market. There are apps that focus on gamifying the basics, language exchange apps, and apps that connect students with teachers, but real-time conversation is not available. No platform existed that connected English learners to help each other improve their speaking skills - until Hallo came along.
Hallo is the first real-time, language-learning, social platform available in the market. At the click of a button, Hallo users have conversations with a practice partner in real-time video chat. Hallo connects English learners, helping them improve their social speaking skills - arguably the most important aspect of language learning. The next version of the app will allow native speakers to make money from their services through live streaming and private or group lessons.
"At Hallo, our mission is to empower others to find more opportunities in life and make dreams come true through language," Beh said. "We are committed to building a more educated and connected world by bringing the fun back to learning and making it the social experience it was designed to be."
Hallo officially launched both Android and iOS apps on April 29th and invited all 180,000 of their Facebook followers to start using the app. With the official launch, Hallo is available to anyone who wants to improve their speaking skills.
