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The 拢4.25m funding round led by ScaleUp Capital, enables Sanctus to accelerate its 鈥渉uman-first, tech-enabled鈥� growth strategy and continue to provide high-quality coaching in the workplace.

Sanctus, one of the first organisations in the UK to offer proactive mental health support through 1-2-1 coaching for employees in the workplace, has closed a 拢4.25m investment round led by Scale Up Capital, and advised by the team at PWC Ventures.

Launched in 2016 by James Routledge, Sanctus was born out of a desire to normalise the conversation around mental health at work and make proactive support more readily available to UK employees. Today Sanctus counts 100+ partners as customers, including start-ups like The Body Coach, Goodlord & Carwow, agencies like Dentsu, Omnicom & Vayner Media and Global Brands like Red Bull, Octopus and Boston Consulting Group.

The funding round follows two years of record growth for the business with over 9,000 workplace-based 1-2-1 Sanctus Coaching sessions delivered in 2021 alone.

James Routledge, founder of Sanctus, said:

鈥淪ince 2016 we鈥檝e done a lot with relatively little investment, steadily building a strong foundation of incredible partners and world class coaches. I鈥檓 so proud of what we鈥檝e done to pioneer a real movement around workplace well-being and now is the right time for us to invest in amplifying our impact.鈥�

鈥淲e already have a life-changing impact on the people that use Sanctus coaching every day, it鈥檚 time to scale that.鈥� added George Bettany, Sanctus co-founder.

The funding round will enable Sanctus to accelerate hiring into both the HQ and coaching teams, alongside investment in digital and community-focused initiatives to support new and existing partners. The plan is for thousands more employees and hundreds more businesses to benefit from Sanctus coaching every month, whilst retaining focus on quality, safety and integrity.

It also comes at a time when Sanctus are embarking on their journey towards B-corp status, driven by a commitment to scale in a way that is healthy for everyone. Central to this is the desire to reconfigure the outdated and transactional nature of the employer-employee relationship and support their partners in delivering a progressive vision of workplaces of the future.

Chris Slater, CEO at Sanctus, commented:

鈥淭he mental health & well-being market is going through a significant period of transition, with employers starting to wake up to the fact that looking after their employees is the only way to build successful, long lasting businesses. We are delighted to have found an investor in ScaleUp who believes in our ambition to build a coaching business that sets the standard for quality in an unregulated coaching market.

We are at a moment in time where we have the opportunity as business leaders to redesign the workplace of the future, rather than paying lip service to supporting employees鈥� well-being by putting the latest app into an employee’s hands. I鈥檓 excited about the role we can play in putting humans at the heart of business strategy and supporting employees to be their very best.鈥�

In addition to the injection of capital, which marks an important milestone for the business following five years of bootstrapped growth, the investment round unlocks the opportunity for Sanctus to benefit from ScaleUp Capital鈥檚 Scaler Programme and experience in the sector.

Frank Hyman, ScaleUp Capital, COO, added:

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to be supporting Sanctus on their scale-up journey. Their 鈥榟uman-first鈥� approach to coaching has already delivered outstanding growth, as well as impressive outcomes for their clients, and we are delighted to be part of the next chapter.

At ScaleUp Capital we work very closely with emerging growth businesses, providing them with funding and a structured, scaling methodology via our Scaler Programme, including putting a team on the ground covering strategy, talent, change and finance disciplines. We鈥檙e looking forward to supporting Sanctus鈥� talented team on this next phase of their growth journey.鈥�