The provider of loans to “high-promise” international and DACA students will look to add new value-added products including a student loan refinancing solution for recent international graduates in the US.

“International students are vital bridges between countries”

“The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the need for tight international cooperation and knowledge-sharing,” said Manu Smadja, MPOWER Financing CEO and co-founder.

“International students are vital bridges between countries and their minds carry future solutions to today’s global challenges.”

As North American universities increasingly combine online education with traditional on-campus learning, costs have the potential to reduce, making university accessible to a greater number of students worldwide, Smadja continued.

“Given international students are essential to universities’ financial health, and many more students would come if tuition was more accessible, this is a huge opportunity,” he said.

“I’m very grateful for investors’ support. MPOWER is honoured to play a small part in enabling international education at such a critical time in history.”

The company announced an expansion to Canada in 2018, while it secured $100m in 2019 to boost its total loan financing capital to $200m.

Investors include Breega, Potencia Ventures, AI8, Cometa, Zephyr-Peacock, 1776, Fresco Capital, 1994 LLC, and Goal Structured Solutions.

“The pandemic has shown that education is a rapidly changing industry and more important than ever. MPOWER has what it takes to thrive in this new environment,” said Meng Xiong Kuok, managing partner of K3 Ventures.

Another loan provider Prodigy Finance launched a refinancing product for international graduates working in the UK or 24 US states in 2018.