PeopleGrove Raises $1.8 Million in Seed Funding Led by Reach Capital

SAN FRANCISCO – July 14, 2017 – PeopleGrove, an edtech startup which has built a software platform to connect students and professionals with advisers, coaches and mentors, has raised $1.8 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by Reach Capital, with participation from Bisk Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Floodgate, GSV, Launch Capital, RiverPark Ventures and University Ventures. The investment brings PeopleGrove’s total funding to $2.5 million and will help the company expand its team of engineers, build out its sales and customer success teams and reach more universities and students. Reach Capital’s General Partner Jennifer Carolan will join PeopleGrove’s Board of Directors.

The new seed funding builds on an exceptional year for PeopleGrove which saw a rapidly growing list of customers and development of its initial platform in close collaboration with Stanford University.

PeopleGrove’s Mentorship and Advising platform leverages an organization’s trusted network of professionals, wealth of social capital and sense of affinity to help students and young professionals access on-demand advising, mentoring and coaching. The platform has been utilized to help students navigate personal, academic and career challenges. 

“The Trojan family is all about deep and ongoing interactions among our students and alumni,” says Carl Martellino, Executive Director of the USC Career Center. “The PeopleGrove platform allows robust and meaningful connections for our dynamic and talented community and is key to unlocking the gates to worldwide 24/7 engagement.”

In less than a year, the PeopleGrove platform has quickly grown to facilitate thousands of mentoring relationships and has been launched at over seventy different schools and organizations. Students and professionals have always needed mentors and advisers. Historically though, such relationships have been limited by time and geographical constraints. PeopleGrove leverages the power of community, taps into the collective willingness to pay it forward, and then brings these important mentoring experiences online. In the process, PeopleGrove has turned a formerly cumbersome process, limited to a select few, into something that is widely accessible with just a few clicks.

“As a company, we’re just scratching the surface of how powerful personalized, yet scalable, support can be on a student’s journey from incoming freshman to successful graduate,” said PeopleGrove’s Chief Executive Officer Adam Saven. “Having the financial support and domain expertise of top EdTech and seed investors will help us execute our vision even more rapidly and broadly.”

PeopleGrove already has a diverse group of college partners spanning the breadth of higher education, from large public universities like Kansas State University, Penn State University, and University of Michigan, to smaller liberal arts colleges like Wellesley College and Bentley University to online universities such as University of Maryland University College and Strayer University. 

Partners using PeopleGrove realize three primary benefits: 

“Our vision is to empower Stanford students to transform their education and ambitions into meaningful work. Connections and relationships are the heart and soul of our model,” says Farouk Dey, Associate Vice Provost of Student Affairs and Dean of Career Education at Stanford University. “To us, PeopleGrove is key to making this possible.”

Founded in 2015, PeopleGrove is on a mission to connect every student and professional with the mentors, advisers and network needed to realize their full potential and find a fulfilling career. PeopleGrove's mentorship and advising platform has been successfully launched at the world's leading institutions, including Stanford, University of Michigan, Wellesley College, University of Maryland University College and many more. Additional information is available at PeopleGrove.com.

PeopleGrove

Adam Saven

858-449-7824

adam@peoplegrove.com