Melbourne education technology startup Pivot has raised $1.4 million for its feedback platform for schools to improve education.

The round was led by the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle and technology company DiUS, with support from LaunchVic’s women-led investment program, the Alice Anderson Fund.

The funding will be used to re-platform the company’s survey-based technology and launch a new set of tools for student and teacher wellbeing.

Hinge was founded in 2014 by Caitlin Macleod, Cleo Westhorpe and Belinda Harries, who wanted to transform educational practice by translating student feedback into classrooms and helping teachers and school leaders be better teachers.

Pivot’s survey-based technology focuses on collecting student feedback to help teachers improve their teaching practice. Those data insights and resources have been used by more than 50,000 teachers and 1,500 schools in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.

Pivot’s teacher and student well-being tools provide school leaders with a fast, evidence-based, and actionable way to improve student engagement, educational quality, and overall school performance.

Tim Watts, CEO of Pivot, said Pivot has had a real impact: 3 out of 4 teachers change their practice after doing their ‘Pivot’, while 9 out of 10 leaders use Pivot data and insights in school planning and – report.

“We’ve had a great start to the year with hundreds of schools across Australia and internationally using Pivot’s leading data-driven approach to improve educational practice and student and teacher well-being,” he said.

“Our mission to transform educational practice starts with teachers having the tools, resources and support to perform at their best. We know this leads to real impact, with improvements in student learning engagement and learning outcomes, as well as teacher satisfaction and retention in the workplace.”

Sean Scanlon, CEO of the Newcastle Maitland Catholic Diocese, said he believes Pivot’s technology “has the potential to revolutionize the way education is delivered.”

Harries said he was pleased with the financial support of three major investors.

“Their expertise and resources will help us bring our pioneering approach to even more schools and support more teachers to improve their effectiveness in the classroom,” she said.

StartVic CEO Dr. Kate Cornick said: “Victoria is home to some exceptional EdTech startups such as Pivot, whose innovative approach will have a significant impact on the education sector.”