A Manchester-based startup is set to take its mental health and safeguarding tool into the workplace following a joint raise from GC Angels and Great Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
Tootoot, which has a tool that enables the safe reporting of issues - such as cyber bullying and abuse - for school-age children, secured a £290,000 investment from the raise, as part of a £600,000 round involving GMCA and private angel investors.
According to its website, Tootoot is an app that allows users to measure the impact of a school’s approach to wellbeing, safeguarding and anti-bullying, with the aim to make it easy to gain quick insights into what staff, pupils and parents think about topics important to a school.
The business said it’s looking to move its offering into the workplace by building an employee and mental health tool for use in large enterprises and used by the workforce, which would enable enable organisations to understand the mental wellbeing of its staff.
The software would be used as a whistleblowing and reporting tool and would capture snapshots of employee feedback on a variety of topics, it said.
Michael Brennan, Tootoot chief executive, said: “Health and safety protects the physical safety of an organisation, that’s why hard hats are worn in construction, but there are no hard hats for students and sports members to protect from the intangible dangers of bullying, stress and harassment whilst in their school or sports club.
‘With this investment we can use the same principles to support the psychological safety and wellbeing of employees globally by providing them with an app to raise concerns in confidence.”
A “large” pilot with a multinational bank, across sites in the 海角视频 and India, is currently underway, the startup said.
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GC Angels said the the startup showed the “potential and power of digital tools used for good”.
Jessica Jackson, GC Angels investment director, said: “The conversation around mental health of children and adults is one that has been growing in volume over recent years, and GC Angels is glad to invest in an innovative, Manchester-based company delivering positive outcomes- and even saving lives- as a direct result of their technology.”
David Molyneux, resources lead for GMCA, added: “Within Greater Manchester, GMCA has an important role to play in helping successful businesses based within the city-region secure the necessary funding to take expansion to the next level.
“Investment in firms like tootoot – which is developing an employee mental health and wellbeing tool for large businesses – will help ensure Greater Manchester continues to develop a diverse and thriving regional economy.
“We want to lead on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, much as we did with the first.”