Student loans provider MPOWER Financing raises $110 M funding

MPOWER Financing said it has completed its largest funding round of $110 million on Thursday. The funding round was led by Gray Matters Capital and Community Investment Management (CIM).

Washington-based MPOWER Financing provides educational loans to meritorious students to study overseas. Funds from the latest round will be used to give loans to students enrolling in major US universities. It will also be used to support new product growth and technology enhancements.

MPOWER currently provides a fixed interest rate education loan to students - a majority of them Indian - looking to study in more than 200 colleges across the US. "Easy access to loan capital for Indian students will continue to be our focus. Our global citizen scholarships are open to Indian students to take advantage of our initiatives for higher education. Besides the US, we have established partnerships with Canadian Universities, which will add more options for all students," said Lana Bronipolsky, Senior VP of the company's talent acquisition and operations.

The company provides loans to Indian students without any collateral, co-signer or co-applicant. Loan applications can be made online and students can pay off their loans through their mobile phones. Since building credit history is important in the US, MPOWER helps students record their credit history for tax purposes.

"This infusion will enable us to sustain our efforts at empowering students in India and across the world to get easy access to loans to pursue their higher education in the US," said Rohan Tibrawalla, Country Director of MPOWER Financing India.

He added that India is an important market for the company. "We will continue to enhance our product and technology offerings and innovate in the lend tech and student lending space," said Rohan.

With offices in New York and Bengaluru, MPOWER Financing has received close to $1 billion loan applications on its platform since inception.

"The rise is a testimony to the importance of financial access to global education and the central role that international students play in US universities," said Manu Smadja, MPOWER Financing CEO and Co-founder.

Their team is backed by Zephyr Management, Goal Structures Solutions, 1776, Village Capital, VARIV, DreamIt, Fresco, Chilango, K Street and University Ventures.