Prodigy Finance focuses on loans to post-graduate international students.

Prodigy Finance has struck a deal with CPP Investments for funding of $500 million to enable loans to students in new countries including China, Bangladesh and Chile. Applications for loans from international students are up 50% year-on-year. The funding will be offered via CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., CPP’s wholly owned subsidiary. (CROWDFUND INSIDER)

Prodigy has also simultaneously announced a $250 million facility that was agreed in 2020 with U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), for loans to postgraduate students with a special focus on low-income and lower-middle-income nations (minimum 50%) and women (minimum 30%).

Falling enrolments by international students in US schools

Meanwhile, schools in the US are struggling with the lower numbers of student enrollments for Fall owing to COVID complications relating to travel and visa requirements. The number of new international students fell by 43% in 2020 in the US.

Last month, Prodigy announced a new collaboration with 12 reputed universities in the US, allowing students to choose from a much wider list of Business, Science, and Engineering colleges.

By using the new capital to advance loans to candidates in newer countries, Prodigy will also lend a helping hand with boosting student enrolment as well as meet colleges’ diversity targets.

“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,” said Joel Frisch, Head of Global Acquisition at Prodigy Finance. “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.”

Neha Sethi, Head of Capital Markets, remarked: “Achieving this important funding milestone is another step towards achieving our goal of helping over 25,000 students every year.”

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