Group coaching platform Medley just announced that it closed on a $3.7 million seed round led by VC heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz. An impressive list of additional investors, including Foundation Capital, Peloton executive Dara Treseder and Grammy-winning singer Ciara Wilson, also participated in the round.
Founded by mother-daughter duo Edith Cooper and Jordan Taylor, Medley is designed to be a space where people from all walks of life can develop both personally and professionally. The platform includes personalized group coaching programs, content from industry experts, mindfulness resources and more. Unlike many other membership-based organizations, joining Medley does not require exclusive connections or credentials — the goal is to attract a diverse and engaged community.
“There’s benefits of having a space where you can be with your more demographically defined communities. But we also think that there needs to be a space where you gain from other people’s perspectives,” Cooper told Built In when the platform first launched last year. “It’s so important for people to own their individual responsibility, to learn and grow with and through other people.”
This has become especially important over the last year, when burnout, economic uncertainty and social unrest has driven many people to seek out guidance online. Now, Medley is a part of a booming industry that A16z general partner Connie Chan says the VC firm had been keeping an eye on for a while.
“Medley’s approach to helping its members grow in both work and life, particularly during this global moment of change and transition, resonated with us,” she said in a statement. “As founders, Edith and Jordan bring a powerful mix of experiences and strong existing networks, which we believe make them uniquely qualified to succeed in this space.”
Indeed, as a long-time executive at Goldman Sachs and a current board member of major companies like Amazon and PepsiCo, Cooper has decades of connections and personal experience in professional development. Meanwhile, during her time as a chief of staff at media company Mic and consultant at Boston Consulting Group, Taylor often worked in collaborative small groups. Together, they have created a company that, in a matter of months, has attracted an international user base.
Since its July of 2020 launch, Medley says it has had people from more than 15 countries and 20 U.S. states participate in its virtual group coaching sessions. The startup also recently launched a pilot partnership with LinkedIn that offered Medley to its B2B talent partner network of HR and recruiting professionals. That partnership has been expanded into 2022. Plus, alongside the funding, Medley announced that it will be introducing Medley Moments — specifically designed courses for particular goals like career pivoting and parenting — in the coming months.
In the meantime, the company will use this fresh capital to scale the business, enhance its technology and grow its team, with a handful of open tech positions at its NYC headquarters.
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