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Student lender Future Finance raises GBP119m for growth and lending capital

Future Finance Loan Corporation (Future Finance), which makes tailored loans to undergraduates and postgraduates at universities across the UK, has raised GBP119 million in growth and lending capital from leading FinTech investors QED Investors, Blackstone Strategic Opportunity Fund, Colchis Capital, Invus Opportunities, KCK, DW Partners, Fenway Summer Ventures, Ridge Road Partners, 1/0 Capital and others. £100 million of the recent funds raised is for lending capital, supplementing the company’s existing credit facility with Goldman Sachs.

This new investment will enable Future Finance to make even more loans, ensuring that many more students have access to higher education in the UK, where data show that investment in higher education provides a good return for students and society.
 
Future Finance, the only company of its kind operating in the UK, offers loans to students studying a wide variety of courses at universities across the country, from nursing at Doncaster College to MBAs at London Business School, to cover tuition fees and living expenses. Future Finance is facilitating access to higher education through its proprietary lending platform, which factors granular data such as continuation, employability and earnings into its lending decisions. This enables students who need additional financial support, on top of government loans and bursaries, to invest in their future careers.
 
Many students are unable to get a loan from a bank because of a lack of credit history and turn to high cost forms of short-term finance, such as credit cards and payday loans. Future Finance provides a competitive funding option for students who face a funding gap (approximately GBP8,000 per student per year) and is experiencing high demand for its loans. Since May 2014 Future Finance has received over 37,000 applications (1.5 per cent of the UK’s student population) and has lent nearly GBP25 million, with loan growth in excess of 900 per cent year-on-year. Future Finance has 33 partnerships with universities across the UK, which enable it to offer even more competitive loans to these students.
 
Brian Norton, Chief Executive of Future Finance, says: “We are excited about this significant investment from a world-class set of investors, which will enable many more students in the UK to access higher education and invest in their future careers. Our investors share our view that students with the motivation and the potential to succeed should not be denied a productive education. We are delighted to have the support of such experienced investors in high-growth FinTech companies like Future Finance whose insights will be invaluable as we look to expand into new products and geographies.”
 
Nigel Morris, Managing Partner of QED Investors, adds: “Future Finance’s use of technology and data to democratise higher education is a huge win for students and society. We are very impressed with Brian and his team and see enormous potential for the business in what is still a nascent market for student finance in the UK. We are delighted to support Brian and his team to take Future Finance to its next stage of growth.”Future Finance Loan Corporation (Future Finance), which makes tailored loans to undergraduates and postgraduates at universities across the UK, has raised GBP119 million in growth and lending capital from leading FinTech investors QED Investors, Blackstone Strategic Opportunity Fund, Colchis Capital, Invus Opportunities, KCK, DW Partners, Fenway Summer Ventures, Ridge Road Partners, 1/0 Capital and others. £100 million of the recent funds raised is for lending capital, supplementing the company’s existing credit facility with Goldman Sachs.
 
This new investment will enable Future Finance to make even more loans, ensuring that many more students have access to higher education in the UK, where data show that investment in higher education provides a good return for students and society.
 
Future Finance, the only company of its kind operating in the UK, offers loans to students studying a wide variety of courses at universities across the country, from nursing at Doncaster College to MBAs at London Business School, to cover tuition fees and living expenses. Future Finance is facilitating access to higher education through its proprietary lending platform, which factors granular data such as continuation, employability and earnings into its lending decisions. This enables students who need additional financial support, on top of government loans and bursaries, to invest in their future careers.
 
Many students are unable to get a loan from a bank because of a lack of credit history and turn to high cost forms of short-term finance, such as credit cards and payday loans. Future Finance provides a competitive funding option for students who face a funding gap (approximately GBP8,000 per student per year) and is experiencing high demand for its loans. Since May 2014 Future Finance has received over 37,000 applications (1.5 per cent of the UK’s student population) and has lent nearly GBP25 million, with loan growth in excess of 900 per cent year-on-year. Future Finance has 33 partnerships with universities across the UK, which enable it to offer even more competitive loans to these students.
 
Brian Norton, Chief Executive of Future Finance, says: “We are excited about this significant investment from a world-class set of investors, which will enable many more students in the UK to access higher education and invest in their future careers. Our investors share our view that students with the motivation and the potential to succeed should not be denied a productive education. We are delighted to have the support of such experienced investors in high-growth FinTech companies like Future Finance whose insights will be invaluable as we look to expand into new products and geographies.”
 
Nigel Morris, Managing Partner of QED Investors, adds: “Future Finance’s use of technology and data to democratise higher education is a huge win for students and society. We are very impressed with Brian and his team and see enormous potential for the business in what is still a nascent market for student finance in the UK. We are delighted to support Brian and his team to take Future Finance to its next stage of growth.”

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