Blackbullion has raised £2.5 million to accelerate financial wellbeing for students.
The company, which aims to simplify the complex world of finance for young people while connecting them with scholarships and additional funds while they study, featured on our FinTech 50 ranking last year.
Available for free to over 1.2 million students at partner universities and colleges and other organisations, the platform is deeply embedded within student support departments and also provides financial education.
Blackbullion has been deployed by more than 50 universities, colleges and higher education organisations across the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Its UK university partners include Imperial College London, Nottingham Trent University, King’s College London and UA92.
To date, Blackbullion’s university partners have awarded £10 million of funds to almost 15,000 students through their proprietary Funds Management System.
The oversubscribed round was led by Calyx Venture Fund with existing investors, including Lord Stanley Fink and MPA Education, also participating.
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“We founded Blackbullion to make financial wellbeing accessible to all young people, through great financial education and better, more inclusive access to funds,” said Vivi Friedgut, founder and CEO.
“The current cost-of-living crisis makes this more urgent than ever, as we continue to create solutions truly focusing on students’ specific financial needs.
“We’re beyond excited to make this happen, with this new breed of operator-led investors, as we head into our next phase of growth.”
The investment will be used to scale product development, funds-specific features as well as an ambitious hiring plan. It will also support the integration of The Scholarship Hub further into the Blackbullion platform, following its acquisition this spring.
Melody Lang, founding partner at MPA Education, commented: “Today’s economic climate means financial education and wellness are more urgent than ever; we couldn’t be prouder to launch MPA Education’s second fund with Blackbullion, to scale the platform at a global level.
“Congrats to Vivi for achieving this in what has been the toughest raise environment for years.”