Innovation Guelph is a Regional Innovation Centre located in Guelph, Ontario that received an investment from the Government of Canada Women Entrepreneurship Strategy to support women entrepreneurs. This investment helped to broaden initiatives for gender equality and advancing the Canadian economy with the creation of the Rhyze Ventures Program. Pollinate Networks Inc. supports the mentoring program component of the Rhyze Ventures Program.
Rhyze Ventures matched hundreds of entrepreneur participants across three streams: small business, social enterprise, and scalable business.
Using the Cross-Pollinate AI™ matching algorithm, mentorship pairs were strategically matched based on their goals, backgrounds, and business needs. As a result, 87% of mentees reported positive knowledge gain, and 94% of participants had a positive experience with their mentor.
Rhyze Ventures needed a virtual mentorship experience that could support women entrepreneurs across Ontario with different business models, goals, and stages of growth.
The program required a flexible matching and engagement approach that could serve participants across three streams: small business, social enterprise, and scalable business.
Pollinate worked with the Innovation Guelph team to support the virtual mentorship component of Rhyze Ventures through the Pollinate Platform, Cross-Pollinate AI™ matching, and mentoring education resources.
The intake and matching process were tailored to the unique needs of women entrepreneurs, with program-specific criteria designed around the goals of each stream. Pollinate also created a custom platform group to house resources, discussions, and key program information.