BENGALURU: MPower Financing, which offers loans to international students studying in the US or Canada without requiring a co-signer or collateral, has raised $153 million in funding including $52.5 million in debt financing.
The new funding is in addition to the $30 million MPower raised earlier this year from Tilden Park Capital Management, which also participated in the current round, and ETS Strategic Capital on behalf of non-profit educational assessment ETS. Other investors in the current round include King Street Capital Management, Drakes Landing Associates, and Pennington Alternative Income Management.
Ashwini Kumar, general manager of MPower’s India office, said the funding would be deployed to support students. “In the past, we have focused on other debt investors to carry us forward. With $100 million in equity funding alone, we would be supporting students directly. We are trying to build a robust tech and analytics team here,” he said. Kumar said that the company would be making huge additions to its existing 75-member Bengaluru team. MPower has 120 employees and plans to grow its headcount to 200 over the next 18 months.
Founded in 2014 by Emmanuel (Manu) Smadja, MPower Financing aims to democratise education by reducing financial barriers for high-promise students from India and other countries. Its loans are approved instantly and are granted at competitive interest rates without requiring a cosigner or collateral. It works with over 350 top universities across the US and Canada.
Kumar said that MPower focuses on the future earning potential of the student and not their credit history or a credit score and even if credit history is reviewed, it's with the intent to looking at red flags only.
