International student loan fintech Prodigy Finance lands $750 million

The funding enables Prodigy Finance to continue to meet growing demand for international student loans, while moving into new markets

Prodigy Finance, the UK-based fintech providing cross-border lending for postgraduate international students, has secured a financing deal worth up to $500 million, after striking an agreement on a $250 million facility last year.

CPP Investments will provide up to $500 million of financing through its wholly owned subsidiary, CPPIB Credit Investments.

The deal enables Prodigy Finance to continue to meet growing demand for international student loans, with applications up 50% year-on-year, while moving into new markets.

These markets include China, Australia, Bangladesh, South Korea, Spain, Chile, Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and most of South America, and their addition means Prodigy Finance can now support the ambitions of students and organisations from more than 120 countries.

The latest investment comes on top of a $250 million facility Prodigy Finance agreed last year with development bank the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which partners with the private sector to finance solutions to critical challenges facing the developing world today.

The 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%).

Prodigy Finance’s business model is built on the idea that access to financing for international graduate education should be borderless and based on future potential rather than current circumstance.

While lending to students from all over the world under UK consumer credit regulation, Prodigy Finance’s payment solutions enable it to engage with and collect from borrowers wherever they are resident post-study.

Prodigy Finance underwrites its loans based on its proprietary Future Earning Potential credit model, helping those without traditional sources of finance or guarantors to study around the world.

To date, Prodigy Finance has funded more than $1 billion in graduate education loans, to more than 20,000 high-potential students from over 100 countries.

Commenting on the new funding, Joel Frisch, head of global acquisition at Prodigy Finance says: “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. 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.”

Derek Jackson, managing director and head of European credit at CPP Investments, adds: “This financial commitment to Prodigy Finance is a great example of our ability to provide flexible funding solutions to complex business needs and fits well with CPP Investments’ credit strategy of investing our patient capital with leading partner organisations.”

Image: Prodigy Finance

Mark Dugdale