Cloud-based mentoring platform Mentorly is raising $1 million in funding in its mission to make mentorship “accessible and actionable.”

The company also recently bought on its new chief technology officer (CTO) in Mateo Murphy.

Investors in the seed round include Youssef Bennani, Backbone Angels, Formentera Capital, Mistral Ventures and Chris Slow (CTO of Reddit) joined the round. The round also includes participation from other angel investors with experience at tech companies such as Slack, Shopify, Google, and Snap.

Cofounders Ashley Werhun and Katherine Maughnaughton say their tech saw over 700 percent growth in usage over the past 12 months, and that the new funding will also go towards growth.

Mentorly says its platform was initially designed for one-on-one mentoring sessions between emerging creatives and industry professionals. However, in 2020 it pivoted to release Mentorly Enterprise, supporting large enterprises and networks at scale.
It offers customizable portals, booking, video calls, follow-up tools, smart mentor matching and recommendations.

Moreover, Mentorly Enterprise integrates into companies’ learning and development programs. Its enterprise product has doubled its client base over the last 12 months.

Emphasizing the need for quality mentorship, the cofounders say a limiting factor is in “situations in which the same social circles of people keep getting connections and mentors, creating an insular effect that leaves out underestimated and diverse talent.”

With Mentorly, people on different teams, in remote roles, or even in different countries can be matched.

“In the future of work, mentorship is not a ‘nice to have’, it is a necessity”, said Werhun, the company’s CEO. “We are proud to welcome a group of experienced investors to the Mentorly team who clearly see the value of mentorship not only in their own companies but beleive it should exist in every person’s life”.

“This is the perfect moment to increase our velocity, people need mentorship more now than ever before,” added Werhun.

“I would forever be indebted to my mentors,” said Bennani an angel investor and managing partner at CTI. “Mentorship is the best leadership model to help build self-confidence and grow oneself.”

Mentorly currently has 14 full-time employees.