{"id":42438,"date":"2023-10-20T15:21:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/mentorloop-closes-300000-seed-round-valuing-the-melbourne-startup-at-2-million-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:21:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:21:13","slug":"mentorloop-closes-300000-seed-round-valuing-the-melbourne-startup-at-2-million-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/mentorloop-closes-300000-seed-round-valuing-the-melbourne-startup-at-2-million-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Mentorloop closes $300,000 seed round valuing the Melbourne startup at $2 million – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

Melbourne startup Mentorloop has closed a $300,000 funding round valuing the cloud-based platform at $2 million.<\/p>\n

Mentorloop\u2019s platform aims to make mentoring relationships easier to start, run and participate in for businesses, universities and individuals, with its clients now including Startup Victoria, the Western Australian government and Monash University.<\/p>\n

The funding comes from a range of private investors including StartupAUS director Glenn Smith and Melbourne Angels, and will be used to further the startup\u2019s product development and hire an in-house developer.<\/p>\n

A year in the works<\/h3>\n

Mentorloop co-founder Lucy Lloyd says she and fellow co-founder Heidi Holmes laid the groundwork for the funding round very early on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did the rounds last year and talked to pretty much every investment body in Melbourne,\u201d Lloyd tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of those VCs necessarily jumped on board but we had one person in each room that kept in touch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made some progress since then, with our first paying customers, and they\u2019ve all re-signed. There\u2019s no churn of our customer base and we\u2019ve proved the market-fit of the product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd says they decided to opt for a group of private investors that identified with the startup\u2019s overarching goal instead of going down the VC route.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur call to action has always been about making mentoring mainstream,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have had success in life understand the value of mentoring and they believe it should be better offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve now get a great group of likeminded investors who really believe in the dream, not just the business case.\u201d<\/p>\n

For other founders she says it\u2019s important to build relationships with investors early on, before a funding round is open.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes several conversations to get that mutual trust that will result in an investment,\u201d Lloyd says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to have conversations 12 months before you need the money. We\u2019ve also learnt to focus and hear a \u2018no\u2019. If someone is saying maybe or that they\u2019re not sure, that\u2019s a no. Get some feedback then move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Business friends forever<\/h3>\n

Mentorloop\u2019s cloud-based platform allows mentoring administrators to invite, match and manage their program participants, with an algorithm taking into account a user\u2019s industry, skillsets and goals.<\/p>\n

Mentoring is crucial to success in every business sector, Lloyd says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of mentoring is a huge factor in the startup world and in the success of entrepreneurs in the tech space – but why aren\u2019t these mentors available to everybody?\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Despite acknowledging the importance of mentoring, most programs are still run with spreadsheets and email, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to solve that problem first,\u201d Lloyd says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first clients were the program coordinators with spreadsheets. Now we\u2019ve switched our focus to improving mentoring outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mentorloop platform now includes a communication channel which mentors and mentees can use for event management, file sharing and task management.<\/p>\n

Lloyd and Holmes met at school when they were 14 years old, and have been friends for the 20 years since.<\/p>\n

After Holmes sold her company AdAge to Gen George\u2019s OneShift, her and Lloyd, who was working as a digital director at an ad agency at the time, decided to devote all their time to the mentoring idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came together over this idea,\u201d Lloyd says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a bit of a slow burn but now with the investment we\u2019re ramping up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running a business with your best friend is \u201camazing\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got that base of trust so a lot of the bullshit and potential misunderstanding is swept away,” Lloyd says.<\/p>\n

“We often disagree but if there\u2019s a misunderstanding we\u2019ll have a beer and talk it through. If you\u2019re a bit down then the others lift you up.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing full-time on Mentorloop is the best thing that\u2019s ever happened to me. I skip into work every day and get excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, <\/em>LinkedIn.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne startup Mentorloop has closed a $300,000 funding round valuing the cloud-based platform at $2 million. Mentorloop\u2019s platform aims to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}