London-based credit platform Prodigy Finance has raised $240 million as it plans its next stage of growth.
The disruptive platform, which provides funding to international postgraduate students attending top-ranked universities, has raised $40m from investors – led by Index Ventures – and $200m from a global investment bank.
Funding will support increased mobility of international talent from China, Brazil and India at top postgraduate schools, with the number of international students forecast to reach 8 million by 2025.
Since its inception in 2007, Prodigy Finance has financed over $325m in loans through the platform, funding over 7,100 students, without having written off a loan. With offices in London, Cape Town and New York, Prodigy Finance is on track to double the size of its portfolio thanks to the funding round.
The new investment will allow Prodigy Finance to expand in the US market and grow its technology and business development teams. European investment bank GP Bullhound advised Prodigy Finance on the round.
“Bringing on board a leading venture capital firm along with a global institutional investor is a significant achievement and shows we can scale the funding,” said Cameron Stevens, Prodigy Finance founder and CEO.
“GP Bullhound has been instrumental in helping us finding the right partners and has demonstrated strong commitment every step of the way to help us realise this opportunity.”
Guillaume Bonneton, partner at GP Bullhound, commented: “We are very proud to have advised Prodigy Finance on this landmark growth round, following the previous $123m round completed in 2015.
“Prodigy Finance has built an exceptional platform, leveraging technology to address the global financing demand from international students.”
This represents GP Bullhound’s 16th transaction in 2017 and another landmark FinTech transaction for the company.