SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PeopleGrove, known for its leading solutions for career mentorship and alumni engagement in higher education, announced today that it has received a significant growth investment from The Riverside Company, a global growth and private equity investment firm committed to helping mission-driven technology companies realize their full potential and accelerate market adoption. The investment will help PeopleGrove address growing demand for continuous career support among students, recent grads, and experienced alumni. Investment will additionally accelerate adoption of the market’s first Career Access Platform™.
This new investment is a testament to PeopleGrove’s rapid growth and strong student and alumni adoption. Today, the PeopleGrove platform boasts 450 customers, including 60% of the top 100 US universities. More than 20 million students and alumni have access to PeopleGrove. Since its founding, the company has facilitated over 1,000,000 mentorship connections.
Universities want to ensure students and alumni that their investment in a degree has lifelong value and continuous ROI. This is the essence of why every university needs a Career Access Platform™.
The majority of students enter college with limited professional networks and experience. PeopleGrove differentiates itself from other career sites by providing students with personalized career exploration experiences designed to relate classroom-to-career. Once a career path is chosen, learners have direct access to an already warm network of industry professionals – an institution’s alumni. These connections, relationships, and social capital are critical to the lifelong success of every learner from the day they arrive on campus to long after graduation.
“The team has done a fantastic job of creating a robust, feature-rich product working with the hundreds of university partners," said Riverside Managing Partner Loren Schlachet. "Their value proposition – to ensure the value of a degree persists long after graduation – is compelling and mission-critical to all institutions today. We look forward to partnering with them as they enter the next chapter of growth and become the preeminent Career Access Platform™ for higher education."
In a recent survey of 1,638 of PeopleGrove’s student users, 1 in 3 reported obtaining a good job or internship because of connections made inside PeopleGrove. With new funding, PeopleGrove will expand product innovations, invest in its customer-facing teams, and pursue strategic acquisitions to complement and strengthen its offering.
“We started PeopleGrove to ensure all students and alumni, regardless of their background or experience, have access to the network and support necessary to achieve their career goals,” said Adam Saven, co-founder and CEO of PeopleGrove. “We’ve made great progress on this mission, but there is much work left to do. With Riverside’s capital and expertise, we will move faster, ensuring we’re the leading Career Access Platform™.”
PeopleGrove will soon be unveiling:
- Research-based career and alumni industry benchmark reports
- Their first full-length book
- Dates for their annual user conference, PeopleGrove Innovators
In the meantime, the company is actively hiring to achieve these objectives. View current openings.
Tyton Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to PeopleGrove in its growth investment from The Riverside Company. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
About PeopleGrove
PeopleGrove’s mission is to ensure every learner has access to the people and networks needed to succeed. PeopleGrove provides best-in-class career exploration, career navigation, and social capital access for millions of students and alumni around the world. Founded in 2015, PeopleGrove works with over 450 institutions including Stanford University, the University of Michigan, Wellesley College, and the University of Maryland Global Campus. Recognized as an industry leader, PeopleGrove has been included on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies. To learn more about PeopleGrove, visit https://peoplegrove.com.
About The Riverside Company
The Riverside Company is a global private equity firm focused on investing in growing businesses valued at up to $400 million. Since its founding in 1988, Riverside has completed more than 850 investments. The firm's international private equity and structured capital portfolios include more than 140 companies. For more information visit https://riversidecompany.com/
