Amsterdam-based startup Hello Mentor launches its new AI career platform, Athena

Amsterdam-based Hello Mentor announced the launch of its online mentoring platform powered by Athena, the firm’s in-house artificial intelligence (AI) career assistant, after nearly a year of development and improvement.

In 2022, the startup raised €25K in pre-seed funding from ASIF Venture to accelerate product development.

Hello Mentor is supported by renowned VC firms, including Antler, and has strategic alliances with Dutch universities such as Saxion University, Avans University of Applied Sciences, and Tilburg University.

What does Hello Mentor offer?

Founded in 2018 by Quincy Dalh, Merel Kloots and Lucas Oliveira, Hello Mentor helps companies and universities manage their institutions and invite employees or students to the platform.

Once onboarded, the platform leverages its matchmaking capabilities to match mentors to mentees based on interests, skills and learning goals.

The Dutch startup charges a subscription fee to companies in exchange for access to the platform, social media, and tailored events to widen companies’ employer branding and awareness.

Hello Mentor was born out of co-founder Quincy Dalh’s desire to bridge the gap in students’ transition from study to work. 

Dalh has worked as a former recruiter/career services officer for close to 15 years in the HR/People Tech field. He claims to have contributed to notable projects with TNO, TU Delft, and Erasmus University, to mention a few.

“Our own learning journey”

In order to better the study-to-work transition for all students globally, Hello Mentor says it will begin by reaching over 100,000 students in the Netherlands in the coming months.

The startup claims to have built a scalable online mentoring platform with AI for individualised study-to-work mentoring at scale after learning “valuable lessons” from earlier successful offline mentoring cohorts.

Quincy Dalh, co-founder of Hello Mentor, says, “Our AI, Athena, takes real-world data and builds it into a sophisticated algorithm that creates personalised career recommendations for students matching their studies, interests and mentors.”

“Our own journey mirrors the mentorships we seek to facilitate – it’s been challenging, rewarding, and packed full of learning. With Athena, we’re excited to make this process accessible and more personalised for the next generation.”

Currently, the startup offers a data-driven approach to career transitions to a wide range of enterprises, from corporate behemoths like Just Eat Takeaway to innovative SMEs like SafetyCT.