IU Ventures Invests $500K in Mentorship Platform
(photo courtesy of Indiana University)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe IU Philanthropic Venture fund has made a second $500,000 investment into Mentor Collective, a Boston-based education technology startup that helps universities with mentorship programs.
The platform helps to connect first-year and international students with campus life and now has more than 100 partnerships with universities.
IU Ventures made an initial $500,000 investment during the company’s seed round.
IU says it not only invested in the company, but it is also using the service via several business units, such as the Center of Excellence for Women and Technology, the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and IU Online.
“We did extensive interviews across the campus about the value of this programming for our own students,” said Jason Whitney, vice president of IU Ventures, which manages the IU Philanthropic Venture Fund. “It was obvious that what had value pre-COVID was even more valuable post-COVID. That is reflected in the growth of the engagement across IU’s campuses, which helped solidify a positive investment case when presented to our investment committee for consideration.”
The company was founded by Jackson Boyar, a 2012 graduate of the Indiana University Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.
The company says the additional funding will allow it to develop more sophisticated mentor/mentee matching and expand its engineering team.
Click here to learn more about Mentor Collective.