A FinTech pioneer behind cross-border lending for postgraduate international students has raised a further £550 million.
London-based Prodigy Finance said the new financing deal from CPP Investments will see it expand into new markets.
The company is seeing growing demand for its international student loans, with applications up 50% year-on-year. It now plans to accept applications from students from a number of markets that were previously excluded due to funding eligibility restrictions in 2020.
These regions include China, Australia, Bangladesh, South Korea, Spain, Chile, Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and most of South America, taking the number of countries to more than 120.
The latest investment comes on top of a $250m facility Prodigy Finance agreed last year with America’s development bank, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which partners with the private sector to finance solutions to critical challenges facing the developing world today.
These DFC funds will be used to grant loans to postgraduate students with a primary focus on low-income and lower-middle-income countries (minimum 50%) and women (minimum 30%).
China alone sends more than 100,000 students to the UK each year and more than 300,000 to the US, while US and Canadian schools see 57% and 35% respectively of students coming from these additional markets.
To date, Prodigy Finance has funded over $1bn in graduate education loans to more than 20,000 high-potential students from over 100 countries. The firm underwrites its loans based on its proprietary Future Earning Potential credit model, helping those without traditional sources of finance or guarantors to study at the world’s best universities.
“We have always believed that talent is borderless and finance should be too, so we’re thrilled to now be able to support students from all these additional countries,” said Joel Frisch, head of global acquisition at Prodigy Finance.
“In total we can now help students from over 120 countries worldwide and want to keep being a leader in helping global talent achieve its true potential.”