Mentoring can be extremely valuable within an organisation, with estimates that a mentoring program can boost retention rates as much as 69 per cent for mentors and 72 per cent for mentees.

Australia’s leading mentoring software platform is Mentorloop, which enables organisations to build effective mentoring programs, match their people into productive mentorships at any scale, and measure real program outcomes – saving days of admin work and thousands in people costs.

Uptake of Mentorloop’s platform has been swift with the company’s revenue growing by 500% in 2017. The software is already being used by 28 clients across four continents with Australian clients including RACV, Institute of Public Accountants, TAL Insurance, the Australian Olympic Committee and Monash University.

“We are very excited about partnering with Mentorloop and being able to bring the benefits of mentoring to our members and the broader accounting community in a scalable and manageable way,” CEO of Institute of Public Accountant Andrew Conway commented.

Mentorloop recently announced the closure of a $725,000 oversubscribed seed round from Blackbird Ventures, rampersand and Tempus Partners, bringing total funds raised to $1 million. 

Organisations spend an average of $1208 per person per year on learning and development. Using Mentorloop, these organisations can connect their people into hugely beneficial mentorships for just $25 per employee per year; $25 per year to improve development, leadership, retention, and performance, which is then compounded over hundreds or thousands of individuals.

Launched in 2016 by Melbourne-based Lucy Lloyd and Heidi Holmes, Mentorloop has been used by organisations in Australia, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Asia to start, run, and measure mentoring programs for their people.

“For too long effective mentoring programs have been impossible to run with spreadsheets and email, and viewed by organisations as a ‘nice to have’. We now know from decades of research that mentoring is critical for organisational success,” co-founder and CEO Lucy Lloyd says.

“Mentorloop’s software enables organisations to uncover their latent talent and knowledge on the sidelines. Well-run mentoring programs discover new leaders, uncover new ideas and better harness the depth of knowledge and experience lying dormant in your team. That’s where the real productivity gains are,” Ms Lloyd says.

The latest capital infusion will go towards the continued development of Mentorloop’s software platform as well as growing the team (currently nine people), which will allow the company to deliver even better mentoring experiences to its growing client list.

“Mentorloop is helping organisations develop more engaged, skilled and sustainable workforces, and we’re backing a founding team that has the talent to turn this big opportunity into a great company” said Tempus Partners partner Alister Coleman.