Together lands $6.2 million CAD to pair mentors and mentees in companies

Together, a#nbsp;software company that brings mentors and mentees, well… together, has raised $#nbsp;6.2 million CAD ($#nbsp;5 million USD). AltaIR Capital led the round with participation from TRAC, Garage Capital, Rebel Fund, and Funders Club.

Together plans to#nbsp;use the funds to#nbsp;continue building out its product, as#nbsp;well as#nbsp;to#nbsp;grow its engineering team in#nbsp;order to#nbsp;serve more customers. The startup also wants to#nbsp;add to#nbsp;its sales and marketing team.

"Most employee learning happens socially, and critical informal learning opportunities are lost when everyone’s remote."-Nathan Goldstein, Together

The startup helps learning and development teams in#nbsp;companies run a#nbsp;best-practice mentoring program for employees. It#nbsp;captures everyone’s areas for development and goals, matches them with the most relevant mentor within their company, and guides and tracks relationships. The funding round closed in#nbsp;December. Igor Ryabenkiy, a#nbsp;managing partner from AltaIR, is#nbsp;joining Together’s board.

"We want to#nbsp;be#nbsp;the place where anyone comes for advice or#nbsp;learning on#nbsp;a#nbsp;weekly basis for employees," company co-founder Nathan Goldstein told BetaKit.

"The important distinction with our software versus any other previous tools is#nbsp;that we’re completely internal to#nbsp;the company," Goldstein said. "We're not a#nbsp;consumer play where you find a#nbsp;mentor, just out there on#nbsp;the internet. These are the people at#nbsp;your company with highly relevant advice for you."

According to#nbsp;Goldstein, the pandemic disrupted how employees work, and the biggest shock was not being able to#nbsp;see their co-workers every day. "Because of#nbsp;this, employee learning went into a#nbsp;crisis," he#nbsp;said. "It is#nbsp;well known that most employee learning happens socially, and critical informal learning opportunities are lost when everyone’s remote."

Goldstein believes employees need more meaningful ways to#nbsp;connect and learn, and said the pandemic, which "broke" employee learning, also created an#nbsp;opportunity.

Together promotes employee to#nbsp;employee learning through its software, matching employees to#nbsp;ensure everyone has a#nbsp;peer mentor or#nbsp;expert at#nbsp;their company to#nbsp;learn from. Some examples Goldstein gives are a#nbsp;junior employee starting at#nbsp;a#nbsp;company who is#nbsp;looking to#nbsp;have a#nbsp;mentor help with onboarding, or#nbsp;a#nbsp;first-time manager learning from a#nbsp;more experienced one.

Goldstein said, Together is#nbsp;building a#nbsp;better way to#nbsp;learn, and obviously its investors agreed. He#nbsp;noted that the investors have experience in#nbsp;B2B and SaaS, as#nbsp;well as#nbsp;scaling to#nbsp;large markets, and said he’s looking forward to#nbsp;replicating that trajectory with them. Currently, the startup employs 15, but with the new capital Together wants to#nbsp;immediately grow to#nbsp;25 to#nbsp;30 people, and within the next two years hopes to#nbsp;hit 50.

Goldstein and his co-founder, Matthew Reeves, previously worked at#nbsp;the Boston Consulting Group, a#nbsp;management consulting firm, which they said had great career development programs. It#nbsp;inspired them to#nbsp;want to#nbsp;present first-class career development to#nbsp;companies around the world.

"So we#nbsp;began thinking about how do#nbsp;we#nbsp;do that with software," Goldstein said. They talked to#nbsp;human resource officers and vice presidents of#nbsp;HR to#nbsp;learn what the market was looking for, and interested in.

Together participated in#nbsp;Y#nbsp;Combinator in#nbsp;2019, and then subsequently raised a $#nbsp;1.8 million CAD ($#nbsp;1.5 million USD) seed round

Published by BETAKIT —#nbsp;on#nbsp;January 14, 2022