Founded in 2020, 18-year old University of Toronto student Nelson Lee created Haven after hearing about a friend's sexual assault story on campus. Sadly, she did not have any tools on her to keep herself safe or connected with loved ones, which led Nelson to think about how to reduce sexual assaults on campus. 

After conducting some research, Nelson found that there were no current solutions on the market that were tailored for students to help them stay safe. 

Wanting to find a way to help students return to campuses following the COVID epidemic without returning to pre-COVID dangers, Nelson brought on fellow co-founder Ethan Hugh and started to design and code a revolutionary app. The result was phenomenal. 

In March 2021, Nelson and Ethan were selectively chosen to build their idea through the accredited NEST Hatchery Program, a startup incubator, at the University of Toronto. 

In the span of a summer working out of their Toronto garage, Nelson and Ethan have built Haven, an app that will pave the way for how we rethink safety on university and college campuses. 

Haven has been working with experts and sexual assault organizations since Day One to ensure it provides its users, university and college students, with the best tools to stay safe.

In September 2021, Haven released its iOS and Android app on the App Store and Google Play Store and garnered over 1000 downloads in one week. The Haven app contains the following features:

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1. Notify friends, loved ones, and the police of your location and status with a single tap

2. Provide users with a dynamic script to relay to emergency operators 

3. Call friends and loved ones in-app, no more scrolling down your contacts list in an emergency 

4. Replace "text me when you get home" with an easy to use Destination Timer

5. Teach users about consent, assault, and more through our expert-reviewed Education Pages

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