This was published 6 years ago
Mentoring start-up raises $1 million and wins Olympic contract
By Cara Waters
Mentorloop finalised a $725,000 capital raise on Tuesday bringing the total funds raised for the mentoring software platform to $1 million.
The seed round was raised from venture capital firms Blackbird Ventures, Rampersand and Tempus Partners and Mentorloop will use the funds to accelerate its growth including a partnership with the Australian Olympic Committee.
Mentorloop founders Heidi Holmes (left) and Lucy Lloyd started the mentoring platform in 2016.
Mentorloop was launched last year by 35-year-old friends Lucy Lloyd and Heidi Holmes.
The platform enables businesses to start, run and measure mentoring programs.
Lucy Lloyd says the mentoring platform is more like eHarmony than Tinder. Credit: Craig Sillitoe
Starting up over a glass of wine
"Four years ago we caught up over a glass of wine as you do with friends," says Lloyd. "We started talking about 'Wouldn't it be great when you were navigating a new challenge in your career to have some sort of sherpa for your career?' We wondered aloud why there wasn't a dating site for mentorship and that life-changing relationship that makes you take the next leap in your career."
Mentorloop works by businesses putting out a call to action asking who wants to be mentored, people put their hands up and the program then collects data from them by asking tailored questions.
The questions include some standard questions Lloyd describes as Mentorloop's "secret sauce" and some that are unique to each client and the data is then used to suggest matches.
These matches can be managed by the businesses or "left to happen in the wild like a dating site" where mentors and mentees self select.
Lucy Lloyd and Heidi Holmes spotted the gap in the market for Mentorloop over a glass of wine. Credit: Craig Sillitoe
Mentorloop then helps keep the mentors and mentees keep track of their goals.
Not quite Tinder
"We prefer not to think of ourself as the Tinder of mentoring but the eHarmony, there is a little bit more smarts in it than what someone looks like," says Lloyd.
Beijing 2008 Olympic Champion and three-time Olympian Steve Hooker is chair of the Australian Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission and is working with Mentorloop. Credit: Steve Christo
Lloyd and Holmes started Mentorloop with $75,000 of their own money and boot-strapped the early development of the initial prototype.
The pair then "bit the bullet" and went full time in the business in 2016.
Mentorloop now has a team of eight staff and works with 30 clients across Australia, Europe, Asia and North America.
Turnover last year was under $100,000 but is growing quickly with recurring monthly revenue this year of $20,000.
The pair have signed some high-profile clients including the Australian Olympic Committee, which will use Mentorloop to help mentor Australian Olympians into their post-sports careers.
"The AOC want to help athletes have successful transitions from elite sport to a second career," says Lloyd. "Because athletes are coached their whole life the experience of transitioning to a second career can be really jarring."
Mentorloop will also be used by Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia and the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, to offer mentoring to typically underserved people and communities.
Lloyd says the funding boost will help expand Mentorloop's reach.
"It's really about growth for us now," says Lloyd. "We've had a massive 12 months, our clients often underestimate demand for mentoring in their organisation so it's kind of exploded."
Growth potential
Investors are keen on the start-up, with Mentorloop's funding round over-subscribed.
Paul Naphtali, managing partner at Rampersand, says the attraction is the growth potential.
"The war for talent is getting more acute and we think Mentorloop is leading the way," he says. "[Lloyd and Holmes] are real thought leaders and action leaders in this so the platform covers off the two biggest fail points in mentoring programs; how do you connect the right people together and how do you ensure the business continues to run?"
Naphtali says most existing mentoring programs don't work.
"The category is emerging but we think it is a multibillion-dollar category," he says. "There is no ceiling on what this can be, it's a whole new technology solution for an emerging industry. We think this is LinkedIn 15 years ago but with more potential for growth."