[Funding alert] Fintech startup Kuhoo raises $20M in seed round from West Bridge

Student loan fintech platform Kuhoo said it raised $20 million in a seed round from West Bridge Capital. 

Named after the sweet sound of the bird Cuckoo, Kuhoo is the brainchild of former ICICI, HDFC Credila, and InCred executive and banking veteran Prashant A Bhonsle.

The gap between the increasing cost of education and affordability has only widened, forcing students to give up on their dreams. Kuhoo intends to fill this gap and create products primarily based on their academic backgrounds, college, course rankings, and career prospects.

The startup aims to provide online loans to students aspiring to study in universities both in India and abroad. It claims to be the first student loan provider to offer products across various streams like engineering, MBA, executive education, online courses, coaching classes, and even new age courses. 

Speaking about the venture, Kuhoo Founder Prashant A. Bhonsle, said,

"We are on a mission to make Indian students Atmanirbhar. In our cumulative experience of over 30 years in lending to Indian students, we have observed that many talented students do not apply to good universities because they worry about burdening their parents with high costs of fees and living expenses. We want to change this. At Kuhoo, we combine our vast experience with advanced technology and data science to create risk and credit models.

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These models evaluate students' potential employability and future incomes for various courses. In fact, this loan will help them build credit history while studying.

Deepak Ramineedi, Partner at West Bridge Capital, said, "With the rising costs of education, we believe India needs loan providers who comprehensively understand the problems of students, parents, and academic institutes. Assessing the future employability and income of students are two of the biggest challenges for existing banks and NBFCs offering student loans. We are glad we have found the right entrepreneur in Prashant. Other than his experience in creating one of the most successful student lending companies in India, we like his vision of using technology and analytics to build an online business model."

"During the last few decades, only a tiny percentage of the talented Indian students got a chance to pursue their dreams of higher education in the universities abroad. While that will continue to grow..., the Indian government's policy push of creating high-quality education institutes, and the edtech revolution of recent years, have opened attractive avenues for young Indian students," added Sumir Chadha, Co-founder and Managing Director, West Bridge Capital Partners.