STUDY LOANS TARGETS $5B STUDENT LOAN MARKET, PLANS TO BUILD $30M LOAN BOOK IN FIRST YEAR

Melbourne-based fintech startup Study Loans has this week launched its responsible student lending service, with $5 million available to Australians seeking to finance their tertiary education.

In addition to completing a $2 million seed round to get the business off the ground, Study Loans co-founders Brett Shanley, Mark McCoach and Rhett Simonds raised $5 million debt equity from investors the Simonds Family and RMY Corp to distribute for the first tranche of loan applications.

Dynamic Business spoke to Study Loans CEO Shanley about how the startup will help students overcome a big hurdle to acquiring credit, the three-pronged market being addressed by the founding team and the milestones he hopes to hit within the first five years of operation.

DB: What is the elevator pitch for Study Loans?

Shanley: Study Loans is the first private dedicated provider of student loans in Australia. We work directly with educational institutions to pay a student’s tuition as they progress through their studies, instead of providing the funds to the student.

Our main focus is to make it easier for people to gain access to education so they don’t fall back on high interest credit options like credit cards or pay-day lenders.  To do this, we built the first-ever dedicated credit engine for making decisions on educational loan applications because borrowing funds for education is fundamentally different to acquiring credit from a traditional bank or lender. Read more

James Harkness - Dynamic Business - 28 Sep 2017