Dublin-based Future Finance raises €150m investment

Dublin-based start-up Future Finance has raised £119 million (€150 million) in funding to grow its student loan platform.

A number of investors including QED Investors, Colchis Capital, Ridge Road Partners, DW Partners, Fenway Summer Ventures and the Blackstone Strategic Opportunity Fund, among others, participated in the round.

The investment brings total funds raised, since the company’s launch in May 2014, to £185 million (€234 million). The company said £100 million of the recent funds raised is for lending capital, supplementing an existing credit facility with Goldman Sachs.

Future Finance chief executive Brian Norton said the new investment will enable Future Finance to make even more loans, ensuring that many more students have access to higher education. While the business is focused on the UK and Germany, he said a European expansion was underway.

Mr Norton said 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.

“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,” he said.

Future Finance provides loans to undergraduates and postgraduates of between £2,500 and £40,000 each academic year to help them pay for tuition costs and living expenses.

Since May 2014 the company has received over 37,000 applications and has lent nearly £25 million, with loan growth in excess of 900 per cent year-on-year. The company has 33 partnerships with universities across the UK, which enable it to offer even more competitive loans to these students.

QED Investors managing partner Nigel Morris said Future Finance's use of technology and data to democratise higher education "is a huge win for students and society".